Judge pelted with shoes for ‘disrespecting’ accused

Accused murderer threw his shoes at the judge and tried to climb up to the podium and attack him.

MULTAN: In the Multan district court, an accused murderer pelted an additional judge with his shoes.

Police officials overpowered the accused Nazeer Hussain after he threw his shoes at the judge and tried to climb up to the podium and attack him.

In Multan’s Mumtazabad police station Nazeer Hussain, on Monday, submitted an application in the court of additional judge Mian Qasim for medical relief. Hussain said that his arm had been hurting and that he should be admitted to the hospital. “When they arrested me, the police beat me severely and I am still recovering,” Hussain said. The additional judge Mian Qasim rejected Hussain’s application and told the accused that he had already been given medical relief several times and needed to wait for his verdict to be announced.

According to police officials, Hussain was charged with Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) by Liaqat Ali. Ali said that Hussain had killed his cousin over property in Mumtazabad. “If they think I committed the murder than the man who accused me should be in court,” Hussain said, adding that Liaqat Ali had not appeared in court even once. “They should release me because these charges are all baseless.” Police officials said that Hussain had been complaining of pain for several days before the date of his hearing. “It was pretty typical behavior for him. Every time he knew there was going to be a hearing he began to complain of pain a couple of days before that,” said Multan capital police officer (CPO) Dilawar Abbas, adding “This was the fourth time he did this. He had already been granted medical aid three times.”

During the hearing Hussain demanded that Judge Mian Qasim release him immediately. “He said that he was a Syed and that no Syed could possibly be accused of murder,” Abbas said, adding that he began to abuse the entire court and Pakistani legal system for not having any respect for his caste.

At this proclamation, the judge said “I couldn’t care less if you are a Syed or not. That has no basis on your case.” Eyewitnesses and police officials said that the moment the judge rebuked him, Hussain and Judge Qasim got involved in a heated exchange. “The judge also abused him, he began swearing and at that point Nazeer took off both his shoes,” Abbas said.

Police officials said that Hussain threw both his shoes at the judge and one hit him in the face while the other bounced off his chest. “The entire court room was in a commotion as Nazeer lunged towards the judge before the police managed to apprehend him,” said Advocate Shehzad Khan.

Eyewitnesses told the press that Hussain began hurling abuse at everyone in the court. “He accused the judge and everyone of blasphemy for not standing up against his conviction,” said a police official Tariq. “He kept repeating that he was a Syed and should not be degraded in this manner. He demanded that the judge let him go,” Tariq said.

After the incident, the police took Hussain to a holding cell. Another hearing was called at 3 pm but the judge barred all media officials from meeting the accused. CPO Abbas said that he could not allow anyone access to Hussain and said that Hussain would not be taken to the Multan district jail. The sessions court officials refused to comment on the issue and the verdict for Hussain’s case (No. 2009-806) is expected within this week.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2010.