Judge urges steps to pursue warrants abroad

Report sought regarding setting up of special court

LAHORE:

A judge has ordered the federal government to establish a special court to bring into the grip of the law the accused who escape abroad during their trial.

Special Court Central Judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad issued the order in the judgment of a case in which several of the accused had left the country.

The judge sought a report by August 30 regarding the setting up of the court under sections 93-A and 93-B of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court observed that the federal governments in the country had never bothered to comply with the provisions.

It observed in the detailed judgment that it appeared that a lacuna had been left so that influential accused managed to flee abroad and there was no authority that could proceed against such absconders.

It declared that court orders could not be allowed to be kept in cold storage without implementation.

The judge observed that the question arose whether the government had established any court for service of summons and execution of warrants of the accused who had managed to evade the cases pending against him.

Under Section 93-A, where a court in Pakistan desires that summons issued by it to an accused person shall be served at any place outside (Pakistan) within the local limits of the jurisdiction of a court established or continued by the authority of the federal government in exercise of its foreign jurisdiction, it shall send such summons, in duplicate, by post or otherwise, to the presiding officer of that court to be served.

The relevant provisions shall apply as if the presiding officer of the court to whom it was sent were a magistrate in Pakistan.Section 93-B covers execution of warrants abroad.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2023.