LAHORE: The LHC registrar on Wednesday issued a reminder to the Punjab IG against the arrest of accused persons on court premises.

The letter said: “It has been observed that police personnel and other law-enforcement agencies usually pursue the accused when their petition for bail is rejected and ultimately disturb the court hearings.”

It further stated: “The instructions have already been issued to this effect but it appears that their compliance is generally lacking.”

The registrar office directed the police to ensure compliance with the directions given on the issue back in 2014.

REMAND: A special Customs court on Wednesday sent a man to jail on judicial remand in a case of attempted smuggling of rare turtles to Colombo (Sri Lanka).

Customs officials had arrested the suspect at the Lahore airport when 22 turtles were recovered from his luggage. The investigating officer told the court that investigation had been completed and further custody of the accused was not required to the department.

The court sent the accused on judicial remand and directed the IO to submit challan of the case by the next hearing.

Strike: The legal fraternity on Wednesday observed a strike against ‘manhandling’ of a senior bar member and demanded a stern action against police officials involved in the incident.

A bench of the Lahore High Court had denied pre-arrest bail to a murder suspect the other day when police personnel tried to arrest him outside the courtroom.

The suspect allegedly took shelter behind his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar, also a member of Pakistan Bar Council, and the police personnel along with the complainant party scuffled with the lawyer too.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016