Criminal justice: ‘All of society needs reform’

Study on right to fair trial launched .

LAHORE:

The abuses prevalent in the criminal justice system, like the use of torture to extract confessions, cannot be effectively addressed until society as a whole fully adopts democratic values like the rule of law, said speakers at the launch of a study here on Wednesday.

The study conducted by the Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) assesses the criminal justice system through interviews of thousands of complainants and accused in Faisalabad, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan.

Wajahat Masood, the report’s author, said that despite the government’s oft-repeated promise to transform ‘thana culture’, the use of torture was becoming more common,

According to the study, 57% of respondents reported being tortured during interrogation, while 83% accused the police of abusive behaviour towards them at the time of arrest.

Masood said that the police was not an island and it was important to strive for justice in society as a whole. He said the criminal justice system was based on authoritarian rule and there could be no improvement till people were recognised as citizens rather than subjects.

Former Punjab IG Azhar Hassan Nadeem said that in a society where extra-judicial killings were encouraged and the corrupt were respected, the right to a fair trial would remain elusive.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2013.