Cheif Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry chairing a meeting in connection with monitoring of ATC cases in the Supreme Court. PHOTO: APP
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday proposed “effective measures” to pursue terrorism-related cases in all the provinces after noting with alarm the high rate of acquittal since 2002.
Presiding over a high-level meeting, the chief justice said that nobody could be deprived of his life and liberty without due course of law and every accused has the right to fair trial.
The performance and functioning of Anti-Terrorism Courts in the country was a matter of concern that was examined in the meeting held in the Supreme Court.
Senior judges of Supreme Court, monitoring judges of provincial high courts and home secretaries, IGPs, Additional IGPs, Secretaries Prosecutions and Prosecutors General of all provinces and IG Islamabad also attended the meeting.
The meeting also examined the data pertaining to disposal of cases of the last ten years, (2002-2012) and showed concern over the high rate of acquittal in the Anti Terrorist Act (ATA) cases.
The meeting discussed and deliberated different issues regarding the reasons for acquittal. The IGPs made their presentations regarding the causes of delay which are mostly due to defects in registration of cases, non-availability of eye-witnesses, no description of accused, role of accused not specified, material evidence not mentioned, delay in FIR registration, faulty investigation, improper identification parade and doubtful recovery.
There are 14 ATCs in Punjab, 11 in Sindh, 13 in K-P and 6 in Balochistan. The disposal and pendency figure of one year, 2012 of ATCs of all four provinces is given in the table above.
The meeting decided that Islamabad should have two ATC courts. Currently, the anti terrorism cases of Islamabad are being heard at Rawalpindi ATC courts.
The provincial government can also enact legislation or at least tentative legislation for geo fencing and data collection of mobile phone from the respective service providers, the meeting held.
The meeting discussed in details Article 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, wherein the protection of judges, counsel, public prosecutors, witnesses, and persons concerned with court proceedings is laid down.
The meeting also took notice of a case in Sindh province wherein six witnesses were assassinated in a row. Expressing concern on such negligence the meeting observed that if such incidents persist, no one will come forward to record evidence.
It was noted that as per a report of the prosecution department of Punjab government, the large rate of acquittal was on account of various factors, in particular, defective investigation and weaknesses in prosecution.
The meeting urged provincial governments to impart necessary training to investigators and prosecutors and provide requisite equipment including forensic labs so that these defects are addressed and the law made deterrent as intended by the legislature.
It was further observed that investigation should be carefully carried out so that innocent persons do not have to suffer the ordeal of trial and necessary material and all the requisite witnesses are presented so that the guilty can be convicted and punished.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2013.
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