Daily Times

LAHORE: Justice Abdul Sami Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday put off hearing of a habeas corpus petition seeing recovery of a woman lawyer and her son until July 12,

The judge on Friday had in camera proceedings relating to application seeking transfer of investigation.

The petitioner, Zareena Bibi, has held that her daughter, Ayesha, went missing about seven months ago in November 2016. She said that Ayesha was employed at Buttar’s office when the latter proposed to her and they got married a few years ago. She said that Ayesha later gave birth to their only child, Aliyan Ali.

The petitioner alleged that Buttar once tried to kill Ayesha by pushing her down a cliff during a visit to Murree. “She [Ayesha] suffered severe injuries in the fall,” she said.

Following this incident, she left Buttar’s house and started living with her son at a flat in Model Town area. On the day of her disappearance, Ayesha had visited the petitioner’s residence.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client had approached the court after she remained unable to find out about her daughter’s whereabouts through the police. He said the police were allegedly not proceeding in the matter because they were favouring the suspect. He requested the court to direct the police to recover Ayesha and her son and take action against the suspect in accordance with the law.

The LHC had earlier asked the Investigations DIG until June 30 to submit a progress report on investigation of the case.

Justice Abdul Sami Khan had expressed dismay at the delay in completion of the probe, asking DIG Sultan Ahmad why the police were taking so long to proceed in the matter.

A clash was also erupted earlier on Tuesday in the court room after lawyers associated with Buttar allegedly manhandled one of the petitioner’s counsel Shabbir Hussain and his associates Usama and Noor.

Witnesses stated that a large group of lawyers gathered at the court room in support of Buttar also misbehaved with the judge. They said the lawyers manhandled Hussain and his associates and threatened them with dire consequences if they failed to dissociate themselves from the case. The group of lawyers associated with Buttar passed sexist remarks on the woman lawyer part of Hussain’s team.

A police team was summoned to control the situation and to escort the petitioner’s counsel and his associates to safety. Advocate Asma Jahangir, another counsel for the petitioner, had requested the court to direct the police to recover the missing lawyer, Ayesha, and her son. She had said that the petitioner, Ayesha’s mother, was concerned that her daughter and grandson had been killed and their bodies disposed of.

Published in Daily Times, June 24th, 2017.