Murder convicts get 30 days to file appeal

Tweak in law turns seven days into month in death penalty or life imprisonment cases

ISLAMABAD:

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, who is known for being a lawyer with expertise in criminal law, has taken a great initiative by making a crucial amendment to the Limitation Act, 1908.

The Limitation (Amendment) Act 2023 is being enacted with a change in the First Schedule, Act IX of 1908.

“In the Limitation Act, 1908, in the First Schedule, in the first column, against [the] entry of Article 150, in the second column, for the words, ‘seven days’, the words ‘thirty days’ shall be substituted,” a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat read.

Earlier, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the death penalty handed down by a sessions or a high court in the exercise of its original criminal jurisdiction was seven days from the announcement date of the sentence.

Now, this amendment will allow the convicted people in murder cases to file appeals within 30 days.

Advocate Umer Gilani said seven days was too short a time for a convict to file an appeal – especially when they had been sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

“So this amendment is definitely a welcome step towards ensuring access to justice,” he elaborated.
Gilani also believes that the credit went to the law minister for this significant amendment.

“It’s after a very long time that we have a criminal lawyer heading the law ministry,” he added.

Advocate Mian Dawood said this amendment would minimise the exploitation by lawyers, who charged a hefty fee to file an appeal against conviction in murder cases.

He explained that the heirs had no choice but to arrange the fee for the lawyer for filing an appeal against the conviction within seven days.

“Now [the] heirs will have one month to engage a counsel to file an appeal against life or death sentence of their loved ones,” he added.

However, senior lawyers expressed their disappointment over the performance of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) in improving the judicial system.

They believe that there is a lack of appropriate research in the department.

The lawyers also think that it is also a matter of concern that parliament does not take the LJCP’s recommendations seriously for amending the law.

Former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa had taken several steps to improve the criminal justice system.

He had introduced model criminal trial courts for speedy proceedings, especially in murder cases.

Similarly, he had also set up complaint redressal centres in every district.

The performance report of the model courts was being shared with the media every day during his tenure.

After his retirement, his successors did not effectively pursue his initiatives, which were taken for the betterment of the criminal justice system.