Judicial officers should know that the arrest of a citizen without legal justification creates a sense of injustice
KARACHI: As per guidelines set by the Supreme Court, a magistrate who grants remand is under a strict legal duty to do thorough research to satisfy himself to identify whether remand should be granted or not. The liberty of citizens cannot be curtailed and they have a legal right to explain their point of view before the magistrate. Article 9 of the Constitution guarantees that no person will be deprived of life or liberty and Article 10 provides safeguard from arrest and detention.
Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 provides that the magistrate should thoroughly examine the accusation against the person sent by the police to identify whether there are sufficient reasons for remanding the accused to police custody instead of detaining him in magisterial custody. In order to form this opinion, the magistrate should examine the copies of the diaries submitted under section 167 and ascertain what previous orders (if any) have been made in the case. The longer the accused person has been in custody, the stronger should be the grounds required for a further remand to police custody.
Judicial officers are supposed to know that the arrest of a citizen without any legal justification and his detention through unjustified remands creates a sense of injustice and insecurity in the minds of the people.
The high court held that magistrates should realise that they are answerable and accountable to the court for any illegalities and irregularities. The court under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is competent to examine the correctness of the orders passed by the magistrates and in case they violate the instructions given by the High Court, serious action may be taken against them.
The absence of this accountability was the main reason for a separation between the executive and the judiciary. Remands were not properly granted by executive magistrates and sometimes bail applications were not attended to seriously. If the same type of working is adopted even after the division, it would lay the foundation of injustice in the courts.
Arsalan Raja
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2017.
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