Court security: Criminal justice bodies in charge

Lahore High Court seeks progress report by Oct 10.

LAHORE:

A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Najamul Hassan on Saturday ordered Criminal Justice Coordination Committees across the province to review security arrangements at court premises.

The bench is hearing a petition regarding security at courts.

The LHC registrar was tasked with conveying the directions to the district and sessions judges and the inspector general of police.

District administration officials were ordered to meet with their district and sessions judges regularly to review the law and order situation.

The court ordered fresh security plans for all judicial compounds.

The court also directed the prosecutor general and the inspector general of police to incorporate the new security plans in the standard operating procedures for better coordination between security officials in various districts.

The bench further directed the police and prosecution departments to define areas of cooperation, fix a hierarchy of officials responsible for enforcing security measures and set timelines and schedules for the new security arrangements.

The additional inspector general of police had submitted the police was inducting personnel for the investigation branch of the provincial police force.

He said fresh recruitment had also been proposed to enhance the size of the investigation team.

The court observed that structural measures needed to be taken to establish independence of the investigation branch.

The court sought a report on the new security arrangements and steps taken in this regard by October 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2013.