LAHORE – Punjab Bar Council (PBC) has returned a widow’s application against a lawyer, who had beaten her in the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) premises a few days ago, asking her to submit the process fee.
Bushra Sayeda, 60, the complainant, said that she repeatedly approached PBC against Nasir Khan Banuzai who beat her in the bar’s compound. She said that she also made a special request to the PBC’s senior member and its representative in Judicial Commission, Rai Bashir Ahmed, for submitting her complaint but he turned her no favour. She said that they negated her story and termed it an allegation. She said the officials asked her that if her allegation was true, she must not hesitate to pay Rs 500 fee and if she did not pay this amount, it would be clear that her claim was false.
She said that although it was not easy to manage Rs 500, she would go to the bar after arranging the money to test the bar’s attitude in allegations against its members. Ashraf Rahi from the PBC’s disciplinary committee said that they did not refuse to receive her complaint, though the payment of processing fee was necessary. He said they would receive her application and proceed according to the law.
In her application, she alleged that on March 26 she was sitting on a chair at LHCBA at the sitting place of her former counsel Anjum Islam Anjum waiting for Nasir Khan. She said that as she had hired him in a murder case and also had paid Rs 35,000 fee but he was not handling her case properly. She said she reached the LHCBA to take her money and documents back from Nasir.
She said when Nasir reached the bar with Muhammad Ameen and Sultan Arshad, he started beating her with shoe after dragging her on the ground from the chair. She said he beat her and insulted her by using ‘filthy’ language in the presence of a number of lawyers in the compound. She said later some senior lawyers intervened and rescued her from him. She requested in the complaint to take action against the lawyer and ask him to return her amount and documents.
