ISLAMABAD, Sept 28: An airhostess slapped a lawyer who was allegedly harassing her inside the court of an additional sessions judge of Rawalpindi.

The airhostess was in the court of Judge Naveed Iqbal when the advocate, while leaving the courtroom, threatened her of consequences for filing a complaint against him.

She promptly replied by slapping the lawyer.

This led to a brief argument before the judge ordered both of them to leave the courtroom.

The airhostess, a rape victim, had initially registered a case with the Race Course police station against 5 people in January last year.

The proceedings against these accused were in progress in the court and last month, she was advised by a reader to engage the advocate as her lawyer.

She then went to the lawyer’s chamber on August 16, 2013 and after some negotiation, paid him Rs45,000 as his fee.

However, the lawyer allegedly asked to see her nude stating that he could then argue the rape case with more command.

At that, the airhostess left the chamber and filed two different complaints of the incident before the district and sessions judge and the Punjab Bar Council (PBC).

On Saturday, the airhostess appeared before the additional sessions judge where the lawyer was already present and arguing another case.

While leaving the courtroom, the lawyer asked her why she had complained against him.

He also threatened her of filing a suit for the recovery of Rs10 million from her.

The counsel for the airhostess, Rana Abdul Qayyum, told Dawn that the argument between the lawyer and the airhostess could have been averted had the lawyers’ bodies taken action against the lawyer soon after the compliant was filed.

“Such lawyers, because of the backing of these bodies, often show highhandedness,” he added.

It may be mentioned that a day earlier, dozens of lawyers, in addition to the representatives of Lahore High Court (LHC) bar association (Rawalpindi division) and the Rawalpindi bar, appeared before the judge of an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) to express solidarity with fellow lawyer Raja Saimul Haq Satti.

Mr Satti had been nominated as a co-accused in the murder of a woman Sabira Bibi, who had a land dispute with Imtiaz Ahmed alias Taji Khokhar.

A civil court of Rawalpindi had constituted a one-man commission comprising of Mr Satti to record statements of the parties. On August 17, 2012, Mr Satti summoned Sabira Bibi and Taji Khokhar to the site of the disputed land in Dhoke Gangal near Islamabad Expressway, where she was allegedly murdered by Taji’s men.

Later, Satti in his report stated that Taji Khokhar was not present at the scene at the time of the incident.

Advocate Israr ul Haq, the president of Rawalpindi bar, when contacted, said it was the moral obligation of the bar associations to facilitate lawyers in such situations, adding that the JIT (joint investigation team) had falsely implicated Satti in the murder case.

Regarding the lawyer who had allegedly harassed the airhostess, Mr Haq said he did not exactly remember the matter and would comment on the issue after examining the details.