LAHORE: The Punjab Bar Council (PBC) announced that it would continue to protest across the province on Tuesday (today) against the conviction of a member on a contempt charge.

A heavy contingent of the antiriot police on Monday took charge of the security in the Lahore High Court (LHC) as the legal fraternity continued its protest against the conviction of a member of the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) Rana Muhammad Asif.

Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan of the LHC on December 2 had sentenced Rana for obstructing the proceedings of his court.

The lawyers gathered on the LHC premises on the call of the PBC to lodge their protest against the conviction of their colleague. The aggressive tried to enter the chief justice block, however, the antiriot police restrict the entry of the protestors by closing the iron-grill door.

The lawyers chanted slogans against the judges and demanded the withdrawal of the sentence to Advocate Rana Asif.

The lawyers also observed a partial boycott of the courts’ proceedings.

The bar had already announced a complete boycott of Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan’s court till the withdrawal of the conviction of the lawyer.

On the day of incident, Advocate Asif was wearing his black gown inside the courtroom when Justice Khan told the lawyer that he should have worn the gown before entering the courtroom.

Offended, the lawyer responded to the judge in harsh words.

The judge ordered his security staff to take the lawyer in custody and also issued him a show-cause notice under contempt charge. However, the lawyer was rescued by his colleagues who took him outside the court.

Justice Khan issued arrest warrants of the lawyer and suspended the practicing license of the lawyer for six months also.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022