Police asked to employ new techniques for investigation

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered Islamabad police to use alternative and modern techniques for investigation rather than sticking to the decades-old methods of coercion.

IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq noted that the old culture was no longer relevant and that technical crimes now required special training for the investigating staff.

He said that due to inadequate investigation, convictions are reversed by higher courts even though trial courts find convicts/defendants guilty.

During a court hearing, IHC Chief Justice Amir Farooq told the senior superintendent of Islamabad police (investigation) that a meeting of all chief justices was told that a school of investigation had been established in Khyber-Paktunkhwa and can't a similar school be established in Islamabad.

He said that a majority of crimes today were either technological or linked to property. During a hearing, the judge said that the days of someone openly challenging someone before a shooting have long gone. Unseen crimes are now being committed and the old cultures have faded away. In the absence of an eyewitness, the investigating officer asks the plaintiff to gather witnesses; otherwise, the task will not proceed, the IHC chief justice said.

He said that investigative officers should get training as per modern-day standards. The SSP investigation stated that they were addressing it and that improvements will come shortly.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2023.