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Lower courts in 2006

LAHORE: On top of being overburdened by work in 2006, the city’s lower courts had to face several embarrassing moments including an assault by lawyers and a judge being abused and nearly hit by a shoe.

The shortage of judges was the main reason behind the overburdening, as a judge was dealing at an average with 200 cases a day.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry took the initiative and in an unprecedented ruling announced 100 vacancies for civil judges, which are being in the process of being filled.

Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC)

* Saleem Majeed, accused of armed robbery and other serious crimes, abused ATC judge Muqarab Ali Khan during proceedings and threw his shoe at him.

* ATC judge Chaudhry Zafar Hussain awarded death sentence to Nazim Ali for kidnapping for ransom former Punjab Assembly member Sardar Arif Rashid.

* ATC judge Chaudhry Zafar Hussain issued black warrants for Maqbool Hussain accused of murdering Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education chairman Dr Muhammad Yaqoob.

* An ATC awarded the death sentence to former WAPDA deputy director Mohammad Iqbal Ansari for murdering WAPDA director Abdul Jalil Ibrar and injuring deputy director Abdur Rehman following a transfer dispute.

* An ATC awarded the death sentence on two counts to Ghulam Raza and Shabbar Abbas for trying to kill the late Maulana Azam Tariq in 1994, who was chief of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). Two people were killed in the attacks.

* An ATC is hearing a case against security guard Muhammad Rizwan who shot dead Hafiz Ayaz Mehmood, son of businessman Seth Adid.

* An ATC is hearing a case against Allah Dad Lalika, accused of trespassing the property of a high court judge and beating up his security guard.

* An ATC is trying three men for murdering former federal sports minister Derek Cyprian.

* An ATC is trying MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Zaeem Qadri and Asif Chan for inciting riots in the city during rallies held against the publishing of a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Other lower courts

* The drug case against Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, could not be concluded. Last year an application about the admissibility of audiocassettes in which his co-accused confessed to the crime could not be decided. This year Zardari remained abroad for medical treatment.

* The case that attracted the greatest attention of the foreign media was the custody battle for 12-year-old Scot Misbah Rana (Molly).

* A Rs 2 billion damages suit was moved against PIA by the family of Fokker crash victim Samina Hassnain. Another Rs 450 million suit was moved jointly by the families of other crash victims.

* A private complaint against actors Iftikhar Thakur, Amanat Chan, Jawad Waseem, Sohail Ahmad, Ayesha Chaudhry and Sohni is pending before an additional district and sessions judge. They are accused of uttering derogatory remarks about the judiciary during a stage play.

* An additional district and sessions judge is to hear the final arguments on a private complaint by Asma Jehangir, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson, seeking the registration of a case against police officials who manhandled her during a ‘mixed marathon’.

* An additional district and sessions judge granted interim bail to Advocate Masoodul Hassan Sabri, accused of tampering with historian Mubarak Ali’s book ‘Main Aur Mera Muqadema’.

Convictions

* An additional district and sessions judge passed a decree on a defamation suit filed by poet and critic Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and ordered Azhar Javed, the chief executive of a local monthly, to pay Qasmi Rs 5 million in damages.

* Additional district and sessions judge Chaudhry Khaliquz Zaman awarded the death sentence on two counts to Muhammad Yaqoob and his nephew Arshad Mehmood for murdering former Lahore corps commander Mumtaz Elahi and his wife during a robbery.

* An additional district and sessions judge convicted and sentenced Dr Nazir Ahmad to 10 years for raping a patient at his clinic on Walton Road.

* Additional district and sessions judge Syed Imam Ali Shah dismissed the pre-arrest bail application of Faisal Farooq, owner of a sweet company, involved in an accident in which a two-month-old baby was killed. Farooq is accused of over speeding and rash driving.

* Five hundred children were granted bail and another 400 were sent to jail after being arrested for flying kites. staff report

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