Karachi: Lower court judges stop working

KARACHI: The judges of lower courts stop working in protest after a row between a judge and a lawyer took place in City Courts, Geo News reported.

Attempts for the mediation between the two parties have failed.

On Tuesday, a group of enraged lawyers entered the courtroom of a magistrate at the City Courts in protest and used abusive language against him soon after he sentenced two lawyers to two years' punishment in a fraud case.

The couple were, however, bailed after the protesting lawyers approached the district judge (East) to intervene in the matter, who directed the ADJ (East) to take up the matter personally.

Subsequently, the couple filed an appeal in the sessions court, which reconsidered the matter and granted them bail on a surety of Rs0.1 million each.

Earlier, Judicial Magistrate (East) Javed Iqbal Malik awarded two-year jail terms to Hammad advocate and his wife Zeba Hammad and fined them Rs10,000 each.

As soon as the verdict was announced, lawyers sitting in the Karachi Bar Association offices thronged the courtroom, raising objections to the delivery of the order just before the end of the court timings.

The judicial magistrate told them that he had announced the order according to the law. He said that since the case was fixed in the roster for the second half due to the extra burden of cases it was announced late in the afternoon.

The KBA members, however, hurled accusations against him, accusing him delaying tactics so that they could not file an appeal. They then approached the district judge (East) to intervene in the matter.