Islamabad: Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa has expressed concern over the high acquittal rate of 69% in criminal cases in Punjab in the first seven months of the current year because of problems in the investigation system.
Chief Justice Asif Khosa presided over a meeting of the Police Reforms Committee (PRC) on Monday.
According to a report in Express Tribune, the attendees of the meeting included Justice Gulzar Ahmed, serving IGPs of all four provinces, capital territory, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was also attended by former inspector generals Afzal Ali Shigri, Asad Jahangir Khan, Dr Shoaib Suddle, Tariq Khosa, and the designated director general of National Police Bureau.
The chief justice appreciated the work done by the police while acting on the directions of the Police Reforms Committee.
The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) Secretary Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan informed the participants that in public complaint redressal centres, 24,387 complaints were pending as of January 1, 2019. He added that 77,451 complaints were instituted, while 95,041 complaints were disposed of between January 1 and September 15.
The LJCP secretary also informed participants of the action taken against delinquent police officers and staff through the imposition of 144 major and 479 minor penalties during the aforementioned period.
He further stated that out of the 20,796 complaints regarding non-registration of FIRs, 19,123 were disposed of. Meanwhile, 2,593 complaints were still pending.
Regarding the performance of the complaint cells, Awan gave comparative statement of writ petitions and petitions U/S 22A and 22B Cr.PC for the current year between January 1 to September 15 with the corresponding period for last year.
Dr Awan said that during 2018, 14,733 writ petitions were instituted in high courts, while between January 1 and September 15 of this year, 12,187 writ petitions had been instituted.
The LJCP secretary also presented the statistics relating to the performance of the district judiciary. He stated that between January 1 and September 15 of the year 2018, 186,567 petitions under section 22A and 22B were instituted, while between January 1 and September 15 of the year 2019, 124,330 petitions had been instituted. This, he stated, showed a reduction of 33.4% in the filing of petitions U/S 22A and 22B Cr.PC.
Moreover, Punjab IG Capt (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan commented on the performance of police complaint redressal centres and actions that had been undertaken against delinquent police officials.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa expressed concern over the alarming rate of acquittal due to flaws in the investigation system.
The chief justice stressed upon the National Police Bureau to come up with a uniform strategy across the country pertaining to correct narration of FIR, unnecessary arrests and false evidence, in order to discourage misuse of power for registration of criminal cases.
Chief Justice Asif Khosa presided over a meeting of the Police Reforms Committee (PRC) on Monday.
According to a report in Express Tribune, the attendees of the meeting included Justice Gulzar Ahmed, serving IGPs of all four provinces, capital territory, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was also attended by former inspector generals Afzal Ali Shigri, Asad Jahangir Khan, Dr Shoaib Suddle, Tariq Khosa, and the designated director general of National Police Bureau.
The aim of the meeting was to discuss the public complaints redressal mechanism, measures implemented to improve the quality of investigation and enhancing the effectiveness of the criminal justice system which dealt with Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) cases.
The chief justice appreciated the work done by the police while acting on the directions of the Police Reforms Committee.
The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) Secretary Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan informed the participants that in public complaint redressal centres, 24,387 complaints were pending as of January 1, 2019. He added that 77,451 complaints were instituted, while 95,041 complaints were disposed of between January 1 and September 15.
The LJCP secretary also informed participants of the action taken against delinquent police officers and staff through the imposition of 144 major and 479 minor penalties during the aforementioned period.
He further stated that out of the 20,796 complaints regarding non-registration of FIRs, 19,123 were disposed of. Meanwhile, 2,593 complaints were still pending.
Regarding the performance of the complaint cells, Awan gave comparative statement of writ petitions and petitions U/S 22A and 22B Cr.PC for the current year between January 1 to September 15 with the corresponding period for last year.
Dr Awan said that during 2018, 14,733 writ petitions were instituted in high courts, while between January 1 and September 15 of this year, 12,187 writ petitions had been instituted.
He added that according to the figures, 17.3% of the workload in filing writ petitions had experienced reduction from high courts due to the effective performance of the public complaints redressal centres.
The LJCP secretary also presented the statistics relating to the performance of the district judiciary. He stated that between January 1 and September 15 of the year 2018, 186,567 petitions under section 22A and 22B were instituted, while between January 1 and September 15 of the year 2019, 124,330 petitions had been instituted. This, he stated, showed a reduction of 33.4% in the filing of petitions U/S 22A and 22B Cr.PC.
Moreover, Punjab IG Capt (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan commented on the performance of police complaint redressal centres and actions that had been undertaken against delinquent police officials.
The Punjab IG also elaborated on the establishment and working of district assessment committees (DACs) and stated that between January 1 and July 31 of the year 2019, 31% accused had been convicted and 69% had been acquitted in 2,586 criminal cases decided in Punjab.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa expressed concern over the alarming rate of acquittal due to flaws in the investigation system.
The chief justice stressed upon the National Police Bureau to come up with a uniform strategy across the country pertaining to correct narration of FIR, unnecessary arrests and false evidence, in order to discourage misuse of power for registration of criminal cases.