SC terms delays in court proceedings 'denial of justice'
Delays cause victims to resort to vigilante justice as a means for retribution, observes bench
PHOTO: EXPRESS
LAHORE:
In a wake-up call for the prosecution department, the top court on Saturday ruled that unnecessary delays in proceedings of capital punishment cases were ‘tantamount to denial of justice’.
“Uncondonable delay in many cases becomes a cause of frustration both for the accused, the aggrieved complainant party and in some cases; the aggrieved party ordinarily takes the law into hands indulging in revengeful acts,” stated the order issued by a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan. “This has resulted in unrest and intolerance which would ultimately have a negative impact on the performance of the government as a whole,” the bench said in its judgment.
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“Of course, it is too late but we are constrained to give a wake-up call to the prosecution/state that in criminal cases involving capital punishment, investigators and prosecutors, consisting of large fleets who are being sustained and maintained at the cost of taxpayers’ money of the poor people, shall diligently perform their statutory duties otherwise they will be guilty of violating the mandatory statutory provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, the constitution and law relating to the prosecution branch,” the SC judgment stated. “It is a universal principle of law that to have a speedy trial is the right of every accused person, therefore, unnecessary delay in trial of such cases would amount to denial of justice.”
The bench further said that with the object to put the criminal justice system into correct channels, the government had bifurcated the police force to preventive, investigation and prosecution wings. Establishment of the systems cost dearly to the public exchequer but the exercise could not improve the system because supervising officers of these three wings of the police were taking least interest to streamline the working of each wing.
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“This conduct and attitude, as well as the performance of investigating, prosecution and detective agencies, are absolutely unacceptable,” the judgment stated. “Some of the witnesses either vanish, are killed by opponents, meet a natural death or relocate. This makes it a cumbersome job for the trial court to procure their attendance… [and] is one of the major contributing factors in the backlog crisis of criminal cases.”
The court ordered that a copy of this judgment be sent to the attorney general of Pakistan, all prosecutor generals, advocate generals, and DIGs. Similarly, the IGPs who are in charge of investigation wings, the ministry of interior, all chief secretaries, all home secretaries, IGP and chief commissioner of Islamabad are given directives to hold deliberations and consultations on the matter.
The aforementioned parties should collectively and individually devise a proper strategy to arrest this grave menace of delay and the causes to immediately redress it within the minimum time duration, the bench added. Furthermore, officers should ensure compliance with relevant legal provisions and to make accountable each and every officer who is found responsible for such a delay.
In a wake-up call for the prosecution department, the top court on Saturday ruled that unnecessary delays in proceedings of capital punishment cases were ‘tantamount to denial of justice’.
“Uncondonable delay in many cases becomes a cause of frustration both for the accused, the aggrieved complainant party and in some cases; the aggrieved party ordinarily takes the law into hands indulging in revengeful acts,” stated the order issued by a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan. “This has resulted in unrest and intolerance which would ultimately have a negative impact on the performance of the government as a whole,” the bench said in its judgment.
SC to announce long-delayed verdict on Monday
“Of course, it is too late but we are constrained to give a wake-up call to the prosecution/state that in criminal cases involving capital punishment, investigators and prosecutors, consisting of large fleets who are being sustained and maintained at the cost of taxpayers’ money of the poor people, shall diligently perform their statutory duties otherwise they will be guilty of violating the mandatory statutory provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, the constitution and law relating to the prosecution branch,” the SC judgment stated. “It is a universal principle of law that to have a speedy trial is the right of every accused person, therefore, unnecessary delay in trial of such cases would amount to denial of justice.”
The bench further said that with the object to put the criminal justice system into correct channels, the government had bifurcated the police force to preventive, investigation and prosecution wings. Establishment of the systems cost dearly to the public exchequer but the exercise could not improve the system because supervising officers of these three wings of the police were taking least interest to streamline the working of each wing.
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“This conduct and attitude, as well as the performance of investigating, prosecution and detective agencies, are absolutely unacceptable,” the judgment stated. “Some of the witnesses either vanish, are killed by opponents, meet a natural death or relocate. This makes it a cumbersome job for the trial court to procure their attendance… [and] is one of the major contributing factors in the backlog crisis of criminal cases.”
The court ordered that a copy of this judgment be sent to the attorney general of Pakistan, all prosecutor generals, advocate generals, and DIGs. Similarly, the IGPs who are in charge of investigation wings, the ministry of interior, all chief secretaries, all home secretaries, IGP and chief commissioner of Islamabad are given directives to hold deliberations and consultations on the matter.
The aforementioned parties should collectively and individually devise a proper strategy to arrest this grave menace of delay and the causes to immediately redress it within the minimum time duration, the bench added. Furthermore, officers should ensure compliance with relevant legal provisions and to make accountable each and every officer who is found responsible for such a delay.