Under pressure from a group of lawyers, Civil Judge Abu Bakar Saddique has been posted out of the district, Pakistan Today has learnt. A week ago, the judge had rejected a miscellaneous application, filed by a lawyer, on the grounds that it was not maintainable in view of the facts of the case.
The group of lawyers, which holds great influence over judges, threatened the judge of locking his court if he attended the court. The group also met a district and sessions judge and asked him to issue orders for Siddique’s posting out of the district, warning that they would otherwise lock his courtroom. The sessions judge bowed to the lawyers’ pressure and sent the judge immediately on leave. The civil judge has not attended the court since then. On Thursday morning, the members of the pressure group were jubilant while telling other bar members that the transfer orders had been issued on their demand.
Other lawyers expressed concern over the episode, saying the head of district judiciary was not bold enough to give protection to his subordinate judges working honestly. They further said that the sessions judge was often visited by influential lawyers in his chamber, alleging that some of those visitors were involved in murder cases, which were being heard in his court. They said there was no hope for transparent justice if such practices continued.
