LHC bench recuses itself from Jaranwala lawyer’s case

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench Tuesday recused itself from an appeal of a Jaranwala lawyer convicted for injuring a civil judge by hitting him with a wooden chair in open court.

An anti-terrorism court of Faisalabad awarded last week a collective imprisonment of 18 years to Advocate Imran Manj under Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and other sections of Pakistan Penal Code.

In a last month incident, the convict had attacked Civil Judge Khalid Mahmood for not extending him favour in a personal criminal case. The injured judge was shifted to hospital for treatment. Scores of lawyers were present in the court when the bench comprising Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun took up the appeal of Manj. Advocate Burhan Moazzam Malik argued on behalf of the appellant and stated that requisites of justice had been seriously compromised by the trial court while handing down the impugned punishment. He urged the bench to suspend the conviction of the lawyer until decision of the appeal. The judges heard the initial arguments of the counsel and recused themselves from the case on personal reasons. The bench sent the case file to the chief justice with a request to fix the same before any other appropriate bench.

Meanwhile, the lawyers continued their protest and boycott of courts against the conviction of their colleague. At a general house meeting of LHCBA, the lawyers termed the conviction a slap on the face of whole legal fraternity.