Law is wiser than man
Law is important for the society for it serves as a norm of conduct for citizens. It was made to provide for proper guidelines and order upon the behavior for all citizens and to sustain the equity on the three branches of the government.
Law keeps the society running as without law, there would be disorder and it would be survival of the fittest and everyman for himself. The law is important as it acts as a guide-line to what is accepted in society. Without it, there would be conflicts between social groups and com-munities.
We should follow law and obey rules at any cost. Last month, a sad incident happened in Mandi Baha Uddin, Punjab, where a senior sessions Jude was harassed in his own court by a group of lawyers. The honorable Sessions Judge (Mr. Rao Abdul Jabbar) convicted the deputy commissioner (Tariq Basra) and the assistant commissioner (Im-tiaz Ali Baig) for contempt of court and issued a show-cause notice to their leader, after which sev-eral lawyers stormed the consumer court in protest against the issuance of a show-cause notice to DBA (District Bar Association) President Zahid Gondal by the judge for allegedly forcing him not to take action against both the officers which is fully illegal and not bearable at all.
I am astonished, they are law followers by their black coats but not following the rule of law at all. They are just giving privilege to the local officers for their illegal or legal demands or works.
The lawyers thrashed the judge, pulled him out his seat and put him into his official vehicle and locked the courtroom.
In this whole scenario, Police which supposed to be present in the court, were missing and I had mentioned this in my previous Article (Above the Law) that there should be proper police security present outside and inside the court while hearing. But not the high court and even the district police took any notice and no strict action was taken in this scenario.
Consequently, these types of inci-dents are increasing with each passing day. If these types of incidents continue to happen, then people with low self-esteem and confidence will never be able to provide justice.
After the incident, judge Rao Abdul Jabbar registered a case against DC and AC, hearing clerk Rana Mahboob, and general sec-retary Yasir Arafat. The bar office-bearers have been engaged for attacking and torturing the judge and hurling abuses and life threats at him while the administration officers have been taken for instigat-ing the lawyers for the attack.
They have showed the old rule of law; might is right where anyone can disobey law. These lawyers are simply using law for their own benefits and adjusting it according to their requirements and demands. I specifically demand strong action from the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and Chief Justice Lahore High Court against this shame-ful act by the lawyers.
As a revenge, the DBA announced a strike of the court proceedings. In the meanwhile, the Punjab government transferred DC Basra, AC Imtiaz Ali, District Police Officer Sajid Khokhar and DSP Mu-hammad Shabbir. The removal of the officers had been made in the wake of the suffering of the judge.
According to a separate notification issued by the Punjab government, Mandi Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Ehsanul Haq Zia and SP investigation Anwar Saeed Tahir have been given the additional charges of DC and DPO offices, re-spectively, whereas the charge of AC has not been given to anyone yet.
The court had convicted both the officers for con-tempt of court while hearing an application of a citizen against the district administration for his forced eviction from a house in Wapda Colony after allotting the same house to a teacher.
On being summoned to the court on misbehavior of the clerk with the judge, both the officers appeared where the DC also misbehaved with the judge. As they could not satisfy the court as to why they should not be tried for contempt, the judge convicted them and ordered the DPO to shift both the convicts to the Gujrat District Jail.
However, instead of shifting them to jail, the police had shifted them to the DC house after arresting them from the court and they later left for Lahore where they filed an appeal for suspension of their conviction two days later. But to sustain the order, both the officers were released on bail after two days.
This incident is a question mark on our society, culture, law enforcement agencies, and most off all; our lawyers.
A senior Judge should be treated in the best possible way as he is there to punish the culprit and Justice to the innocent. It is a shameful act of both the public officers to insult a court in such a horrible manner.
The thing is Bureaucracy in our country was made to serve the poor and do justice to the community, and not to serve their selves in lux-ury houses and consider themselves above the law. There should be a strong reconsideration in our whole bureaucratic system and we need to keep such officers stay away from these high- posts.
If, there will be any judge, he would have left the courtroom and went to his house. But, as Mr. Rao Abdul Jabbar is a man of honors, he didn’t leave the court room and took an action against both the offi-cers.
Until or unless a judge is not given the com-plete security protocols which he deserves, the Judge alone can not do the justice just by sitting on a chair. To make our country peaceful and prosper-ous, we all need to obey the law and follow the rules. Or else, our system will be destroyed and our beautiful country will be ruined.
—The Writer is a Senior Social Analyst and Chairman of Pakistan Columnist Council
Can be Reached at [email protected]
