According to sources, there were only three courts at the time of creation of Islamabad in which five prosecutors were to appear. But due to the increase in population of the federal capital the number of criminal courts has increased from three to 20; and the number of registered cases has risen from 1,151 in 1981 to 6,000 in 2010.
However, the corresponding number of prosecutors has not been increased with that ratio and at present the prosecution branch has only one superintendent of police (SP), three deputy superintendent of police (DSPs), four inspectors (of whom only one is a law graduate) and four sub-inspectors (of whom one is not a law graduate).
Islamabad Capital Territory Police were created in 1981. However a proposal to set up a separate prosecution branch was refused at that time and a subsequent effort in 1996 also met the same fate on the grounds of financial constraints. Since then the prosecution branch has been manned by volunteers irrespective of the fact whether they are law graduates or not.
It has been observed worldwide that in the case of contention between the police and the prosecution wing or in the case of the incompetence of the latter; the ultimate beneficiaries are the criminals.
Besides many other important tasks, the prosecution wing performs the functions of scrutinising challans and intermediate references and applications from police stations in connection with the prosecution of the case. It also contests the cases in the court and makes up for weaknesses on the part of the police.
This wing also takes charge of and deals with articles and property received in connection with cases, as well as unclaimed and suspicious property received from police stations on orders of the magistrate. It supervises the transmission of warrants and summons and keeps the district magistrate and the Superintendent of Police informed about the disposal of cases. It also handles administrative issues and the entire legal/prosecution branch is stationed in two rooms.
The entire legal/prosecution branch has only one telephone connection. When contacted, the officials sources confirmed the pathetic situation of prosecution branch in capital and said that qualified inspectors who are working as DSPs (on shoulder promotion) in the branch may be given regular promotion against the existing vacancies.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2010
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