ISLAMABAD: A criminal case was registered against the spouse and cousin of a legislator belonging to the ruling party on the charge of assaulting an additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) and for criminal intimidation, police said.

The case was registered at the Secretariat police station against the husband and a cousin of a PTI member of the Punjab Assembly under section 337-A, 337-F, 352 and 506 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The police arrested the cousin and were trying to trace the spouse of the MPA.

The FIR was registered in response to a complaint lodged by the judge. The complainant stated he had just stopped at a petrol pump on Constitution Avenue when a Land Cruiser appeared from the wrong side and two persons disembarked from it.

They approached the judge and started beating him besides trying to pull him out of the vehicle, said the FIR. The judge suffered injuries to his body, including head, face, eyes, nose and legs.

IHC administration suspends judge over incident

The FIR said on self-defence the judge opened fire into the air and as a result the attackers ran away. However, they returned with an intention to beat him again.

The FIR said one of the attackers was identified as the husband of an MPA in Punjab.

When contacted, senior police officers told Dawn on condition of anonymity that one of the persons nominated in the FIR had been arrested while the MPA’s spouse was still at large.

A police team is trying to trace his whereabouts and arrest him, they added.

According to the preliminarily investigation, the driver of the Land Cruiser had honked the judge on Constitution Avenue to get way for overtaking, said the officers.

Though the judge gave him way, he got annoyed over the manner in which the driver of the Land Cruiser had honked and then gestured him in an objectionable way while overtaking.

Later, when the judge stopped at the filling station the Land Cruiser also reached there.

Judge suspended

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended the ADSJ for fighting with the spouse of the MPA and resorting to aerial firing.

On the other hand, the ADSJ filed an application before his fellow judge Faizan Haider Gillani, seeking registration of a criminal case against Chaudhry Khurram, the husband of the ruling party MPA, under different sections of the PPC.

The IHC administration through a circular stated that ADSJ Awan had been placed under suspension. The circular did not mention any reason for his suspension.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah during hearing of a case related to an out-of-court settlement remarked that influential people always resorted to compromise to evade the legal proceeding.

Without naming ADSJ Awan, Justice Minallah said a man opened fire into the air in the highly protected Red Zone, another influential person started infighting with him, but later they reached a compromise.

Raja Zahoorul Hassan, the counsel for ADSJ Awan, adopted before the sessions court that the police were duty bound to register a case against the alleged attackers on the judge.

After preliminary hearing, ADSJ Gillani issued notice to the station house officer (SHO) of Secretariat police and sought a report till September 16.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020