Safety measures: LHC to address court security today

The LHC had sought deployment of trained personnel at court premises.

LAHORE:

A division bench of the Lahore High Court will take up the matter of courts’ security on Monday (today). The division bench consists of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Najamul Hassa.

At the previous hearing, the bench had observed that deployment of trained police personnel at court premises was necessary.

The court had said some of the police officers assigned administrative duties could be assigned to security duties at court premises.

The court had also asked for fresh security plans for every judicial complex taking into account specific security threats. The recommendations might include infrastructural changes at judicial complexes.

The prosecutor general has been asked to report the progress made in 118 cases where challans have been filed regarding offences committed on court premises.

The court had directed the prosecutor general to report the degree of cooperation between police investigation teams and the prosecution department during the investigation stage. The government was directed to take steps to comply with Article 118 of the Police Order, 2002, that made the investigation branch was made autonomous.

The judicial officers would share their proposals for security plans with members of the District Justice Coordination committee and together suggest measures to meet specific threats.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2013.