City lawyers subjected an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) police to a beating, throwing both kicks and punches at the police offier, on Lahore High Court (LHC) premises when the ASU arrived to appear before Justice Sheikh Ahmed Farooq in a case filed by a lawyer against him.
Maj (r) Syed Abass Advocate had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court praying to the court to take action against anti-car lifting squad ASI Babar who stopped him on Motorway Toll plaza near Shadhara and impounded his car despite possessing complete documents.
Justice Sheikh Ahmed Farooq summoned the ASI along with the case record but the ASI could present himself to the court, a group of lawyers grabbed him outside the court, beat him up and left him bruised and battered as no one, neither neutral lawyers nor court security officials, intervened to save him from the battering. The beating continued once the lawyers felt other police officers would be served an ample warning.
Expecting justice to be served at the court, when the ASI came before Justice Farooq, the judge, instead of reprimanding the lawyers who had taken law into their own hands, asked the ASI, “Under what law did you impounded the vehicle of an advocate?”
The ASI responded that the number plate of Advocate Abbas’s car was tampered with and it was impounded since the matter was suspicious and an investigation into the car’s registration and ownership was required. Syed Abbas Advocate said he had purchased the car from a private company through auction and had possessed its documents.
Meanwhile, a group of senior lawyers informed Justice Farooq that Abbass and his friends had beaten up the ASI. However, the judge ignored the complaint and gave an order in favour of Syed Abass Advocate. The judge said the ASI had no powers to take the car into custody and passing order for release of the car disposed of the case. Later, other police officials present on the court premises supported the ASI and termed the court order an injustice. The police officers condemned it and demanded that the LHC chief justice to stop the hooliganism by lawyers in the court.
