Training course: ‘Women judges can help reshape patriarchal society’

Justice Malik advises female judges to give comprehensive verdicts.

LAHORE:

Women judges can help build a society that is fairer to their gender by showing through their work that they can perform as well if not better than men, said Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik in a speech at the concluding ceremony for a training course for female civil judges here on Saturday.

“We live in a male-dominated society with attitudes and customs suited to men. But now the situation is changing. It is your responsibility to pave the way for women by proving through your work that you can deliver better than men. Consider yourself a judge and not a woman when deciding cases,” Justice Malik said in his address at the Punjab Judicial Academy.

The Lahore High Court judge said that justice delayed was justice denied, so they must decide cases quickly. He said they must make sure to give complete judgements and avoid deciding cases on technical grounds that may be overturned by higher courts.

“Assume that there is no forum of appeal against the case you are adjudicating. Write comprehensive and complete judgments destined to be upheld in the higher courts in case of an appeal. This should be the motto of the district judiciary,” Justice Malik said.

He warned the judges that their performance was being assessed by the bar. “Litigants and lawyers also judge your performance. The collective [assessment] of lawyers about your work and conduct cannot be wrong as they do not utter a single word against honest and hardworking judges,” he said.

Punjab Judicial Academy Director General Justice (retired) Tanvir Ahmad Khan and Shabana Risalat, a representative of the trainee judges, also spoke on the occasion. The other participants in the course included Ambreen Qureshi, Shazia Zafar Raja, Nadia Ikram Malik, Saira Noreen, Uzma Ahsan, Mehrun Nisa, Sobia Tirmazi, Shumaila Sheikh, Gul-e-Nasreen, Aqsa Hanif, Zillay Huma, Aqsa Ghaffar, Huma Altaf, Afshan Ijaz Sufi, Hina Muzaffar, Poonam Adnan, Saira Chaudhry, Shabana Afzal, Nahid Ali Sher, Farzana Bashir, Ayesha Rasheed Awan and Shabana Hameed Mughal.

Advocate General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, District and Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmad Gajana, LHC Registrar Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Lahore Bar Association President Nauman Qureshi also attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2013.