The criminal justice system of the country needs reforms is a reality authorities concerned can no longer ignore. The delay in our justice system has cost many lives and there is a dire need to do away with certain British-era laws. It was only few days ago when a sessions court in Lahore had acquitted a man in a case of alleged blasphemy after 10 years. Such cases are unfortunately no longer an anomaly. The backlog in our cases at the apex court alone had reached its highest ever pendency in its history in the year 2020 with 44,658 cases pending. And perhaps this is what the ruling PTI had envisioned to do away with but to only land in hot waters with the legal fraternity of the country.
The incumbent government proposed a set of reforms in our criminal justice system, which were approved by the federal cabinet. The Law Ministry had then made amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Qanoon-i-Shahadat (law of evidence), Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and other relevant laws. The ministry’s proposed draft includes setting a nine-month deadline for criminal trials, levying of a Rs1 million fine for frivolous complaints and introduction of plea bargains to reduce the judicial backlog, barring for cases related to women, children and socio-economic issues.
But these reforms have now become a bone of contention between the legal fraternity and the federal government as the former claims they were never consulted on the proposed reforms – a claim the ministry categorically denies. The law minister maintained in a statement that none of the stakeholders – Pakistan Bar Council, all provincial bar councils, Supreme Court Bar Association and all high court bar associations – had given their input after the complete draft of the reforms was shared with them. He further said that silence on the matter implied no problem with the proposed draft. Perhaps the minister needs to realise that such a principle of law can set a wrong precedent, especially when it comes to deciding on matters related to public interest. This is not to say that the stakeholders were not consulted but it is important to actively engage them and remove any contentions. Reforms in the criminal justice system are a step in the right direction but they should not be made haphazardly.
