Delayed justice forms the core of systemic problems

For over four years, Tariq Mahmood, has been lamenting along the lines of the legal maxim justice delayed is justice denied, yet his endless visits to courtrooms have not got him the justice he desperately awaits.

According to Tariq, a “simple case regarding a residential property has made my life miserable” as every day for the past four years his hopes of getting a favorable verdict have been dashed due to the lack of a decision on it.

Despite Tariq’s claims of being denied justice, the Punjab government’s Department of Public Prosecution has asserted that in the last four years they have covered important ground as far as timely justice is concerned having brought high-profile cases like Zainab murder case, Lahore-Sialkot Motorway rape case, and Johar Town bomb blast case, to their logical conclusion.

Legal expert Barrister Noshab Ali Khan, who is based in Lahore, while acknowledging that the public prosecution department was moving on a positive trajectory, criticized that the department still had to overcome many shortcomings. “Prosecutors use all their energies only in important cases which are in the media while the common man is still deprived of justice,” Noshab informed,  “furthermore, cases which have the might of the media behind them get fixed out-of-turn which affects thousands of other cases on the cause list that have to wait for weeks, months or even years to proceed.”

Member Provincial Assembly (MPA), Barrister Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, commenting on the state of the prosecution system also dismissed the department’s claims of heading in the right direction. Barrister Malik stated: “The secretary of the prosecution department has been changed several times in the last three years due to which the performance of the department has actually deteriorated and requires immediate improvement.” Whereas, criminal law specialist, Zeeshan Bhandara, blamed the lawyers for contributing to delays in the prosecution system. Zeeshan was of the view that lawyers have a habit of employing delay tactics to avoid timely justice.

He suggested that the government should give a time frame for deciding all kinds of civil and criminal cases and ensure that it is strictly followed so that prosecutors do not get one court date after another. Former minister for prosecution, Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-Din, concurring with Zeeshan’s views, said that there were many loopholes in the current system. Chaudhry, when asked for his view on how to improve it, responded, “Before being filed in the court, a case must be scrutinized for its applicability in a case diary. Such a system will reduce the number of cases and the issues will be resolved quickly.” Despite some in the legal fraternity stating that all was not well in the department as claimed, Secretary Public Prosecution Department Punjab, Nadeem Sarwar, lauded the department’s efforts in making speedy justice a reality.

The secretary highlighting the steps the department had taken informed that the department had extended its presence by constructing offices in other cities like Okara and Layyah; further adding that the department was also undergoing digitization and computerization while also working on developing its monitoring and coordination system at an approved cost of Rs 86.487 million.  “We have also in a very short period of time convicted several accused in important cases. Moreover, the government is going to take further revolutionary steps to improve the public prosecution department,” he told the Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2022.