Roundtable: ‘Over 96% acquittal rate proof of flawed investigation’
Participants resolve to criminalise torture.
Torture has failed to bring down the rate of crime and there is a need to change the methodology.
ABBOTABAD:
Acquittal of over 96 per cent of the accused people from courts is proof that law enforcement agencies in the country adopt flawed investigation methods. There is a need to revisit these primitive methods of grilling detainees and honour the provisions of existing constitutional and legal mechanisms for investigation.
This was the gist of a roundtable discussion on outlawing torture in Pakistan that was arranged by the Human Development Organisation here on Friday.
Member Provincial Assembly Naeema Nisar, Deputy Attorney General Federal Government Mehdi Zaman Khan Jadoon, Hazara Qaumi Mahaz Chairman Qazi Muhammad Azhar, PPP Abbottabad Women Wing President Gulnaz Abbasi, senior lawyers, media persons and human rights activists participated in the discussion.
They denounced custodial torture rampant in the country and said that exposing accused people to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments in the name of investigation has failed to achieve the objective of curbing crime from the society. If anything, the trend has facilitated the increase in crimes of different nature, including domestic violence, intolerance and deviant behaviour, with poverty-related survival crime atop.
Torture has failed to bring down the rate of crime and there is a need to change the methodology and to devise a policy of investigating crime on scientific lines and in a humane way, the speakers said. International studies have proved that those who underwent detention-related maltreatment became inactive socio-economically and contributed to the rise in poverty. They said though specific legislation is needed to ensure human rights of detainees, it is imperative to implement the legal provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan and sections of Pakistan Penal Code and Police Order 2002 for protection of the fundamental rights of detainees.
They also urged judicial magistrates, casualty medical officers and lawyers to ensure that existing provisions are implemented to keep check on torturous investigations.
By the end, the participants resolved to criminalise torture in the country.
Earlier, Zil-e-Huma, a psychologist of Human Development Organisation briefed the participants on the activities underway for prevention of torture and rehabilitation of survivors of custodial abuses in Hazara division.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2012.
Acquittal of over 96 per cent of the accused people from courts is proof that law enforcement agencies in the country adopt flawed investigation methods. There is a need to revisit these primitive methods of grilling detainees and honour the provisions of existing constitutional and legal mechanisms for investigation.
This was the gist of a roundtable discussion on outlawing torture in Pakistan that was arranged by the Human Development Organisation here on Friday.
Member Provincial Assembly Naeema Nisar, Deputy Attorney General Federal Government Mehdi Zaman Khan Jadoon, Hazara Qaumi Mahaz Chairman Qazi Muhammad Azhar, PPP Abbottabad Women Wing President Gulnaz Abbasi, senior lawyers, media persons and human rights activists participated in the discussion.
They denounced custodial torture rampant in the country and said that exposing accused people to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments in the name of investigation has failed to achieve the objective of curbing crime from the society. If anything, the trend has facilitated the increase in crimes of different nature, including domestic violence, intolerance and deviant behaviour, with poverty-related survival crime atop.
Torture has failed to bring down the rate of crime and there is a need to change the methodology and to devise a policy of investigating crime on scientific lines and in a humane way, the speakers said. International studies have proved that those who underwent detention-related maltreatment became inactive socio-economically and contributed to the rise in poverty. They said though specific legislation is needed to ensure human rights of detainees, it is imperative to implement the legal provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan and sections of Pakistan Penal Code and Police Order 2002 for protection of the fundamental rights of detainees.
They also urged judicial magistrates, casualty medical officers and lawyers to ensure that existing provisions are implemented to keep check on torturous investigations.
By the end, the participants resolved to criminalise torture in the country.
Earlier, Zil-e-Huma, a psychologist of Human Development Organisation briefed the participants on the activities underway for prevention of torture and rehabilitation of survivors of custodial abuses in Hazara division.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2012.