Court orders action against tout mafia in harassment case

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamran Basharat Mufti on Monday ordered the station house officer (SHO) of the Sector-I-9 Police Station to submit an inquiry report within 48 hours regarding harassment of a female student by a tout working on the district court premises. The court told the district court administration to take a stern action against the tout mafia present within the courts’ premises and initiate a publicity campaign to warn people against such elements. On Monday, a female student had filed an application under Section 22-A (for not registering FIR), stating that she was a student of higher secondary school certificate (HSSC)-II. She told the court that she had filed a case regarding a land dispute in the court of Civil Judge Shabana Hameed Mughal on August 24, 2011.
She said a tout named Azhar Saeed Magray asked for Rs 60,000 by saying that he would pay that amount to a lawyer and other staffers of court to ensure an early hearing of the case.
She said Magray took the said money, their phone numbers and their land documents. She said they had heard that land dispute cases took years to settle so they complied with his demands. She said Magray had told them that the first hearing of their case would be on August 27 but when she along with her sister arrived he was not there. She said they learnt that Magray had hired no lawyer and there was no hearing on that day. She said some people at the court building told them Magray just wanted to mint money. She said when they demanded their money back, Magray plainly refused and said that the money paid to him just the consultancy fee and was not refundable.
“He told us that we should give him more money to be paid to a lawyer who would present us in the couty”, she added. She said when the filed a complaint against him with the district court administration, Magray started threatening them. She said he also sent them obnoxious texts messages.
She said Magary had also set some loafers loose on them who were harassing them. She said they went to I-9 Police Station where SHO Rukhsar Mehdi refused to register an FIR against Magray. After hearing about plaintiff’s ordeal, additional sessions judge issued orders against the tout mafia that is active at the court’s building.