A sessions court in Lahore on Wednesday ordered the registration of a criminal case against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and top police officials for the authorities’ alleged torture of lawyers in the provincial capital on the day of the PTI’s Azadi March on May 25.
The order was issued after a lawyer named Haider Majeed Advocate petitioned the court, also accusing the police of not registering a case as sought.
Barrister Hassan Niazi and other lawyers represented the petitioner, while a video of the incident was also played in the courtroom.
The petitioner sought the registration of the case against the interior minister, CCPO Lahore, DIG operations Lahore, SP Esa Sukheri (North Cantt Lahore), SP Waqar Azeem Kharal, DSP Akber Ali, SHO Asad Abbas and others.
After hearing arguments on the petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Additional Sessions Judge Mian Mudassar Umar Bodla ordered the relevant station house officer (SHO) to register a criminal case under section-154 [Information in cognisable cases] of the Code of Criminal Procedure and process the matter “in accordance with the law”.
The court order stated that the petitioner and his colleagues were boarding their vehicle when they were pulled over by the police. It continued that the petitioners were “baton-charged, humiliated, disgraced and their vehicle was damaged badly” even though they were cooperating with the law enforcers.
The court subsequently asked the petitioner to approach the relevant SHO with a copy of the court order to proceed with the matter.
