LHC to take up Ayyan’s bail plea hearing this week

LAHORE:

A division bench of Lahore High Court comprising Justice Anwarul Haq and Justice Arshad Mahmood Tabassum will take up model Ayyan’s bail plea in a money laundering case this week.

Last week, the bench sought a reply from customs authorities. Counsel for Ayyan had said that customs officials had arrested her and accused her of smuggling money. He said she had been behind bars for the last four months. He said under the Customs Act, a woman suspect can be released on bail once the investigation is complete. The counsel requested the court to release Ayyan on bail.

Sippah-e-Muhammad Leader

Last week, the LHC issued orders for the release of the chief of proscribed Shia organisation Sipah-e-Muhammad after recovering him from the custody of law enforcement agencies.

The court ordered his release after law enforcement personnel told the court that he had been arrested in a case registered against him for inciting sectarian hatred. The court granted interim bail till July 14 against bail bonds of Rs500,000 each given by three sureties. He was released from Lahore District Jail.

Justice Anwarul Haq of the LHC issued the order on a habeas corpus petition filed by Naqvi’s son Syed Abu Turrab Naqvi. The court converted the habeas corpus petition into a bail petition.

On October 21, 2014, a division bench of the LHC had changed his sentence from death to life imprisonment. He was to be released on October 27, 2014 but was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order. He challenged the order which was declared illegal and authorities were ordered to release him on November 6, 2014. Three months later, police raided his home on February 29, 2015, and took his father into custody.

The petition challenging this detention is pending before the court. The authorities detained Naqvi for 90 days under the MPO till June 29. Since they could not keep him longer than that without producing him before a review board comprising on judges of the LHC, he was released on June 29. However, some personnel of law enforcing agencies arrested him at the jail gate and took him to an undisclosed location.

Lawyers’ uniform

A division bench of the LHC dismissed an intra-court appeal seeking to bar waiters at restaurants from wearing black suits.

Advocate Sarfaraz Ahmed had filed the appeal against an order by a single bench which had also dismissed his petition. Ahmed had said that he had asked the single bench to forbid employees of restaurants and hotels, especially waiters, from wearing the black suit worn by lawyers in court. He said that he had not asked the court to forbid all citizens from wearing the “lawyers’ uniform”, just the hospitality industry workers. He said, however, the single bench had misinterpreted his petition by assuming he had meant all citizens.

He said the uniform worn by professionals including doctors and lawyers had an independent and distinct identity in society. Other examples of uniforms include ones worn by the armed forces, the police, Rescue-1122 staff and traffic wardens among others. He said there was no overlap of uniform for any other profession. The dress code represents the profession, he said. The idea is to allow people to connect a person with his profession by just looking at them, he said. Similarly, he said, the dress code for lawyers was exclusive.

“We are supposed to wear it in courts at all time. We are not allowed to plead or argue cases before the court if we are not attired according to the dress code.”

Ahmed asked the court to set aside the single bench’s order.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2015.