FIR lodged against lawyers for maltreating cop outside courtroom

ISLAMABAD: Inspector Shakeel Ahmed on Saturday lodged a FIR against lawyers in the Ramna police station here for assaulting him within the accountability court premises yesterday (Friday).

In light of a video, the members of legal fraternity could be seen surrounding and pushing the cop while he was performing his duty outside the courtroom ahead of the graft proceedings against the Sharif family members.

One of the lawyers also hit Ahmed on his face after the cop denied him entry into the court room.

An accountability court on Friday abruptly adjourned the hearing of three graft references against the Sharif family members soon after the beginning of the proceedings, when lawyers affiliated with PML-N, forced their way into the courtroom and surrounded Judge Muhammad Bashir in apparent protest over a denial of entry to witness the proceedings.

“Islamabad High Court has allowed lawyers to witness court proceedings, be it the accountability court since it is an open court,” the lawyers claimed.

These voices echoed the courtroom following a scuffle broke out between the federal police and PML-N lawyers outside the courtroom.

According to police officials, they had been given a task to deny entry to any unwarranted person into the courtroom other than the prosecutor and Sharif family members.

The security measures were taken to ward off any untoward incident, the officials added.

NAB officials harassed

The anti-graft watchdog officials claimed to be manhandled by the lawyers inside the courtroom. The head of NAB prosecution team, Sardar Muzaffar, was pushed and shoved during the incident.