LAHORE: A rape suspect escaped police custody with the help of his legal counsel after a Lahore High Court single bench dismissed his bail petition on Friday.

The suspect (S) moved the bail petition through Advocate Rab Nawaz and denied the charges of rape. He alleged that the police had dragged him into the case at the behest of the complainant party.

The Chiniot police investigating officer, however, said sufficient evidence had been collected against the suspect and medical report also established that the suspect had raped a mentally-challenged girl. He opposed the bail petition.

Justice Shahid Hameed Dar dismissed the petition. However, police failed to arrest the suspect as the counsel along with lawyers helped him flee the court.

Also read: Lawyers help fraud suspect flee FIA custody

Taking note of the escape, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif sought a report from the DIG Operations. He directed that the criminal be arrested and action should also be taken against the officials who showed negligence.

Escape of accused from court premises with the help of lawyers after bail cancellation is on the rise in Punjab. Bar and bench have so far failed to take concrete steps to stop this practice.

In some cases, lawyers also attacked policemen when they tried to arrest the accused from court premises.

PETITIONER FINED: The Lahore High Court on Friday fined a petitioner on perjury and ordered him to deposit Rs100,000 with bar’s dispensary.

Petitioner Rana Ashique Ali had filed a case against the Board of Revenue (BoR) saying he had not been supplied attested analytical reports of sales tax by the board.

He said the board was legally bound to provide the attested reports.

During the course of hearing, the board’s counsel told court that the petitioner had already filed another petition that was pending with another judge.

He said the petitioner annexed attested reports of sales tax with that petition. The counsel also produced documents to this effect and said the petitioner was misleading the court.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan took notice of the matter and observed that the petitioner committed perjury.

The judge imposed a fine on the petitioner and directed him to deposit it with the dispensary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association.

Published in Dawn, June 28th , 2014