Model courts decided over 1,500 cases in Rawalpindi district

Alternative dispute resolution courts helped resolve 43 cases

RAWALPINDI: The eight model courts and four civil courts which were set up in the Rawalpindi district around 50 days ago have so far decided 702 criminal and 814 civil cases thus far, an official said.

In a news conference on Thursday, District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Sohail Nasir said that under the pilot project in the district, eight model sessions courts which they had set up had decided as many as 510 civil appeals in the past 49 days.

Talking about criminal cases decided by the model courts, the judge explained that 91 of these related to murder, 514 to narcotics, and 97 to other criminal activities.



The courts also examined as many as 2,827 witnesses in these criminal cases. They sentenced 13 to death and 11 to life in prison. The model courts also acquitted 264 suspects after finding them not guilty. In minor cases, the court ordered  seven suspects to spend their sentence in community work.

Of the 510 civil appeals, 456 were old appeals and 54 were new civil appeals.

The DSJ further disclosed that of the 841 cases decided by the four model civil courts in the past 49 days, 699 were old cases, while 115 were new cases. The model courts also examined 1,170 witnesses presented by both, the plaintiffs and the defendants.

At the district level, Judge Nasir said that a court had been tasked to work on alternate dispute resolution (ADR). Under the ADR, 45 cases were referred to the court and the parties were convinced to reconcile in 43 cases.

DSJ Nasir added that they had employed modern technologies in resolving cases such as short messaging services (SMS), cell phone calls, chat apps such as Viber, Whatsapp, and Skype to summon or record statements of witnesses for speedy disposal of pending cases.



He appreciated cooperation extended by lawyers, police, jail authorities, doctors and other relevant departments in speeding up disposal of cases.

Regarding online attendance of under-trial prisoners from Adial jail when their physical appearance was not necessary, the judge said that as many as 4,500 prisoners were marked present without their personal appearance which helped save on their transportation costs.

Responding to a query about pending cases, the DSJ said that shortage of judges was one of the major reasons for the massive backlog of cases noting that there were only 700 judges to decide 1.2 million pending cases in the province or around 12,000 to 15,000 cases which each judge had to hear and decide.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2017.