The police have taken a man into custody for allegedly posing as a lawyer at a hearing at the Sessions Court here on Monday.
Advocates Mohammad Asif Chattha and Naeem Malik told The Express Tribune that a man named Muhammad Faryad appeared before Additional District and Sessions Judge Arshad Ali and sought an adjournment on a pre-arrest bail plea moved by his ‘client’, a doctor accused of botching a delivery and causing a baby’s death.
The lawyers said that when a discussion on the law ensued, the opposing counsel remained silent and appeared unable to follow the arguments. They asked him if he was a lawyer. He responded that he was. They asked him for his membership card for the Punjab Bar Council.
He then admitted that he was not a lawyer, but a clerk at a law office. They said that later turned out to be a lie as well.
The lawyers reported the imposter to the naib court. After a brief chase, the court official caught Faryad and handed him over to Islampura police.
An FIR was registered against him under Section 419 (cheating by impersonation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Faryad told the police that the petitioner in the case was his sister Dr Farzana Idrees, who worked at Safia Clinic in Ghoray Shah.
He said that his sister’s lawyer had been ill and he had asked him to appear before the court to seek an adjournment.
According to the FIR registered against Dr Idrees, she conducted an unnecessary operation to deliver a premature baby who later died. The complainant, Mian Sharafat Ali, said that the child was delivered in poor health and he later took him to Mayo Hospital.
He said doctors at Mayo Hospital told him that there had been no need to conduct the operation for early delivery.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2012.
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