Lawyers accused of humiliating litigant

Petitioner says they had warned him against pursuing a case.

LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge on Monday sought comments from the Lower Mall  SHO on a petition seeking registration of a case against a group of lawyers for smearing the petitioner’s face with a shoe polish.

Muhammad Yousaf told the court that a few days ago he had gone to a district court to pursue a car-theft case against Mehmood Akhtar alias Nunah Shah.

He said a group of lawyers, led by Advocate Muhammad Saeed, had confronted him on court premises and asked him not to pursue the case. He said Saeed later slapped him in the courtroom.

“The judge tired to stop Saeed but he continued to threaten me with dire consequences unless I abandoned the case,” Yousaf said. He said Saeed and his accomplices then dragged him to a bar room and beat him there.

“They tied me a necktie and called me a ‘fake’ lawyer to attract other lawyers.” He said they then smeared his face with a black shoe polish and dragged him on the court premises before handing him to Islampura police.

He said police had released him on learning that he was a petitioner and not a fake lawyer. He said he had filed a complaint against Saeed and his accomplices but the SHO did not take any action against them.

He requested the court to direct the SHO to register an FIR against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.