Who will take suo moto action on lawyers’ violence?

After successfully restoring deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, some elements in the lawyers have really started thinking themselves above the law. The recent attacks by lawyers on policemen, readers and judges are truly regrettable.

There has been a string of incidents across Punjab Province in the past few months where the lawyers manhandled policemen, court’s readers, entering into unwarranted arguments and abusing the judges of subordinate judiciary.

Interestingly, no lawyer has been punished so far in any of the incidents as they managed to secure bails.

A couple of such incidents took place in Lahore two days back where groups of lawyers maltreated a judge’s reader at civil courts and an ASI from Gujranwala was kicked, punched and his uniform torn apart in the premises of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The LHC Judge took the notice of beating of ASI and summoned High Court Bar Association representatives after the civil courts employees abandoned their work and went on strike against the rough attitude meted out to their colleague. However, no action has been taken against the responsible lawyers thus far.

A couple of incidents reported in the recent past when lawyers tortured policemen for not giving statements of their liking in the court. All civil judges of Lahore and Faisalabad observed pen-down strike in March this year against the alleged torture of their colleagues by lawyers.

Such incidents are worrisome and height of vandalism on the part of those who are expected to uphold the rule of law in the country. If the legal fraternity is violating the law of the land and no action is being taken against them by the Bars and the Courts, then one shudders to think where the country was heading for.

Apparently certain black sheep have entered the noble profession who want to make their name by bullying the prosecutors, witnesses and judges to get verdicts of their desires.

This trend cannot be accepted by a civilized society and the entire community will lose its credibility in the eyes of the people if it goes unchanged.

Hence, it is responsibility of the Bar Associations to call a national-level meeting and take firm decision to deal with such condemnable acts including a lifetime ban on practice of legal profession on those indulging in rude behavior and violating code of ethics.

In addition, the Supreme Court should also take suo moto notice of the issue if it is really sensitive about its dignity and honor.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 24 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.