Contempt arrest: Lawyers demand sessions judge’s removal
Protest against him for issuing contempt of court notice to a fellow lawyer.
MULTAN:
Several Layyah District Bar Association lawyers staged a protest on Tuesday at the district and sessions court after a lawyer was arrested for showing disrespect to a judge and refusing to accept court orders.
The protesters chanted slogans against the judge and demanded that he be transferred or suspended from service.
Advocate Shahid Iqbal was arrested after he refused to accept Justice Maqsood Ahmed Sulehri’s ruling against his client in an illegal detention case.
The judge was hearing the petition of one Irshad Bibi seeking recovery of her 17-year-old daughter, who she said, had been kept in a detention by a family.
She said her daughter, Mumtaz Bibi, was married to an elderly man six years ago. She said she left her home following abuse by her husband and started living with some family friends. She said the family was now holding her against her will and were not letting her go back home.
Earlier, the court had summoned Mumtaz Bibi. On Tuesday, she told the court that she was living with the family with her free will. She said she had not been detained and did not want to live with her husband or parents. The judge then ordered the police to take her to a Darul Amaan shelter home saying that the girl could not live with the family as they were not her relatives.
Advocate Iqbal, counsel for the girl, refused to accept the ruling saying that the judge should reconsider her request. When the judge told him that the decision was final, he then said, “Imagine your daughter in my client’s place.”
At this the judge became furious and issued a contempt of court notice to the lawyer. When the lawyer refused to accept the notice, the judge ordered his arrest. The lawyer continued to loudly defy the court’s orders as police handcuffed him.Later, several lawyers gathered outside the court room and held a protest demonstration.
They also held a meeting, after which they announced to continue boycott of work until the judge is “transferred or suspended”.
District Bar Association President Ahmed Ali Wagar backed the lawyers saying he believed Advocate Iqbal had done no wrong.
He told The Express Tribune that the call for protest would be withdrawn, if the judge overturned his decision in the case.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2012.
Several Layyah District Bar Association lawyers staged a protest on Tuesday at the district and sessions court after a lawyer was arrested for showing disrespect to a judge and refusing to accept court orders.
The protesters chanted slogans against the judge and demanded that he be transferred or suspended from service.
Advocate Shahid Iqbal was arrested after he refused to accept Justice Maqsood Ahmed Sulehri’s ruling against his client in an illegal detention case.
The judge was hearing the petition of one Irshad Bibi seeking recovery of her 17-year-old daughter, who she said, had been kept in a detention by a family.
She said her daughter, Mumtaz Bibi, was married to an elderly man six years ago. She said she left her home following abuse by her husband and started living with some family friends. She said the family was now holding her against her will and were not letting her go back home.
Earlier, the court had summoned Mumtaz Bibi. On Tuesday, she told the court that she was living with the family with her free will. She said she had not been detained and did not want to live with her husband or parents. The judge then ordered the police to take her to a Darul Amaan shelter home saying that the girl could not live with the family as they were not her relatives.
Advocate Iqbal, counsel for the girl, refused to accept the ruling saying that the judge should reconsider her request. When the judge told him that the decision was final, he then said, “Imagine your daughter in my client’s place.”
At this the judge became furious and issued a contempt of court notice to the lawyer. When the lawyer refused to accept the notice, the judge ordered his arrest. The lawyer continued to loudly defy the court’s orders as police handcuffed him.Later, several lawyers gathered outside the court room and held a protest demonstration.
They also held a meeting, after which they announced to continue boycott of work until the judge is “transferred or suspended”.
District Bar Association President Ahmed Ali Wagar backed the lawyers saying he believed Advocate Iqbal had done no wrong.
He told The Express Tribune that the call for protest would be withdrawn, if the judge overturned his decision in the case.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2012.