How judicial officers treat litigants

Letter April 07, 2012
An ordinary litigant is usually treated in a most impolite manner by a judicial officer.

GUJRAT: With due respect to members of our judiciary, at all levels, I would like to state the following.

An ordinary litigant is usually treated in a most impolite manner by a judicial officer, which can be anyone ranging from a judicial magistrate to a district and sessions judge. On the basis of personal observation, I can say with some certainty that an overwhelming majority of judicial officers of the lower courts speak in an unbecoming manner with litigants and members of the general public.

The general behaviour, manner of speech and phraseology of some of the judicial officers including civil and sessions’ judges are at times coarse, rude and haughty. Even those petitioners who are very old and have gone to a court to seek justice are spoken to in a manner that is far from polite, with most judicial officers addressing them as tum. Also, it is seen that many judicial officers have a tendency to literally scold petitioners, often over trivial matters.

If a litigant is confused over a matter, say a document or something that was said in court in a language that he or she was unable to understand, often the judicial officer responds rudely. What I have seen in courtrooms is that often a magistrate or a judge will speak in a tone such that he is barely audible and difficult to understand. Surely, they should realise that the litigants are weak and vulnerable and need a sympathetic hearing rather than scolding.

There is also this other thing, or idiosyncrasy, for lack of a better word. Most judicial officers write brief orders on order sheets of every case at every hearing. They write the word “Announced” at the end of every impugned order but they seldom, in fact, announce their orders to the parties.

One hopes that the excellent step taken by the Chief Justice of Pakistan in trying to weed out corruption and malpractices in the lower courts will be followed up in letter and in spirit. To that effect, if an effective and feasible code of conduct for judicial officers is also enforced, it will be a boon for ordinary Pakistanis.

Muhammad Yusuf Bhutta

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.