Long arm of law(yers): Intimidation bid ends in court brawl

Group of lawyers roughed up a judge, locked courtroom.

LAHORE: A scuffle between lawyers broke out on the district and sessions court premises on Monday. Two groups of lawyers jostled each other and used abusive language over locking up Additional District and Sessions Judge Farrukh Hussain court room.

Judge Hussain was hearing an after-arrest bail plea regarding a bounced cheque worth more than Rs32 million.

A lawyer present at the scene said that several members of the Lahore Bar Association barged into Judge Hussain’s retiring room at around 11am and demanded that he grant the suspect bail without hearing arguments from both sides.

The judge refused to give into their demands after which the lawyers, including LBA general secretary Adeeb Aslam Bhindar and finance secretary Fazahar Jutt, used abusive language and tried to manhandle him.

Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Burhan Moazzam Malik, who was pleading a case in the same court, asked the LBA members to cease and desist, after which they left the court and locked it from the outside. They also padlocked the court ahalmad’s (record keeper) room next to the judge’s court room.

Advocate Malik called his associates who broke the lock and took him out of the court room. A delegation of LBA members led by LBA secretary general Shakeel Gondal met Malik and told him to stay out of the dispute. Malik reprimanded the lawyers and demanded to know why they had tried to rough up the judge for wanting to decide the bail plea on merit. Gondal apologised to Malik.

In the meantime, LBA members went and locked the court room again. The episode was repeated as Malik’s associates, including Advocates Muhammad Qasim, Aftab Virk, Iftikhar Khan and Rao Qaisar, broke the lock and sat in the courtroom daring LBA members to lock it again.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Qasim said it wasn’t that they were supporting the judge or had a bone to pick with the LBA. “The lawyers roughing up the judge were hindering court proceedings and were inconveniencing litigants... locking up court rooms is no way to press demands,” he said.

More than 70 lawyers, including Bhatti and Bhindar, then entered the judge’s chambers and dragged him outside while swearing at him.

Virk and Qasim tried to stop the lawyers who resisted. Qasim grabbed Bhindar by the collar and a brawl erupted.

Police arrived at the scene and escorted the judge out of the courtroom.

When contacted, Malik refused to comment. He said it was a matter involving lawyers and they would sort it out.

LBA president Chaudhary Ishtiaq, however, said that the bar was not involved in the scuffle. He said LBA representatives had received a call for help from some lawyers who said they were being roughed up by some of Malik’s associates. “LBA members were trying to help lawyers... why are they being blamed?”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a lawyer said the bail petition had earlier been heard by several judges including Judges Zafar Iqbal and Ijaz Buttar, who had referred the case to the session judge citing “personal reasons”. The lawyer said as a matter of fact, they were being threatened by LBA representatives who were pressing them to grant the suspect bail.

Ishtiaq, however, rejected the claim. He said this was a conspiracy to damage the Bar’s reputation. When asked that there were rumours that some lawyers were planning to lock the courts again, he dismissed it as “just a rumour”.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2015.