By Saeed Qureshi
How can justice be delivered in a country where murderers and
rapists go home after payment of blood money or reconciliation with the
aggrieved party? This reconciliation is imposed more often than not on the
victimized party by threats or intimidation. In other instances a payment as
compensation is settled with the harmed side and the courts acquit the
villains.
It means that anyone with a heavy purse and a gun can shoot anyone
in broad day light and prevent the due process of law by undercutting it with
payment of money. The perpetrators of heinous crimes like murders are usually
goons with lot of money and therefore law can be bent if they can pay for blood
money. On the contrary a poor guy who injures or even kills someone cannot have
such an escape route and therefore languishes in jails for years and finally to
be hanged or awarded life sentence.
We have seen that in myriad criminal cases a roughneck forced the
weaker party to come to terms and bargain to let the offenders walk their way.
Not long ago a high profile murder case hit the headlines for pretty long time.
The flamboyant and defiant son of a super duper feudal along with his equally
roguish buddies killed a police officer with impunity. The principal culprit
was given death sentence but was later freed after paying the settlement amount
with the aggrieved party.
I have been reading about flurry of such court settlements in
which the persecuted party was coerced to state before the court not to pursue
the case because they had either pardoned the offenders or had accepted the
retribution by way of a handsome amount of money.
There are various glaring factors that hinder the swift, condign
and deserving punishment to the criminals and outlaws. It is seldom and unheard
of that any rapist even proven was ever punished by a court. The lacuna is the
presentation of four witnesses by the female victim as evidence. The production
of this evidence is like asking for the moon. As such all the rapists and
womanizers remain immune from the grip of law whether it is civil
or the Shariah court.
For the aggrieved party it is absolutely imperative to produce the
witnesses who had seen the crime being committed. First of all it is a tall
order for the persecuted party to find out the witnesses because most crimes
are not committed in public view. Second even if there are people who were
onlookers or present at the crime scene they would not pick up the courage to come
forward voluntarily or otherwise to be witnesses for a variety of compelling
reasons. They would be aware that they would remain under a perpetual spell of
fear and paranoid as long as the case is not decided.
Secondly, the cases on our courts take years from start to the
end. The witnesses have to appear on each hearing before the court disrupting
their jobs, and other activities of life. One would not wish or prefer to be
caught in a grinding gridlock at the cost of disturbing their life and peace of
mind. In the courts a witnesses is harassed, ridiculed and even humiliated by
the defense counsels each time for hours. Any individuals even with strong
nerves cannot stick to a statement verbatim each time as the prosecution or the
defense make every effort to find out contradictions to prove the witness as a
liar.
The aggrieved party hires the false or professional witnesses on
payment for each appearance in the court. He has to bring them fully protected,
take care of their traveling expenses and food etc. Most of the witnesses that
are produced in the courts are therefore not genuine.
The evidence is taken after adjudication of case for pretty long
time. By that time even if there was real eyewitness would forget the real
scenes and the directions and timing and the faces and blah blah asked by the
intimidating and aggressive lawyers. If at all witnesses can be helpful in the
trial of a case then on the time of writing FIR their statement should be
recorded or at the first appearance of the court. But even in this situation
the witnesses cannot get rid of the subsequent appearances in the court that
can prolong indefinitely.
But wring of FIR is a highly technical and legal job. It should
not be entrusted to the minions of a police station. In Pakistan getting in an
FIR written is a tough ordeal. The FIR is written after settlements of bribe or
under the orders from the high ups. The FIR is mostly tainted and would favor
more the stronger party than the weak or the victimized.
Now the police official who writes an FIR is summoned by the court
and he would remain under a constant burden of being questioned by the court
and the hostile counsels each time. There should be several cases for which he
should be summoned when needed to put up the official outlook. Is he a computer
to dish out the correct details about each case?
In the face of all these stumbling blocks and irritants for
dispensation of speedy and fair justice, I suggest the following corrective
measures:
1.
Changes should be brought about in the legal system that should
encourage more litigants to use an expedited court process, as opposed to
arbitration.
2.
The writing of an FIR should be handed over to a magistrate who
can have his or her office within the precincts of the police stations or an
independent office adjacent to a police stations’
3.
The FIR registration officer should not hesitate or defer the
writing of the FIR. Even an FIR from both sides can be recorded.
4.
A time frame should be fixed for every case to be adjudicated and
verdict announced even if it is to be done on daily basis.
5.
The condition of producing witnesses should be dropped as it does
not serve the actual objective of dispensing justice because as explained
above, in most case the witnesses are paid and hired to appear and briefed what
to say.
6.
Instead the circumstantial evidence and forensic findings should
be considered enough evidence. The Witnesses are usually produced mostly in
criminal cases present at the time of occurrence of crime. In case of civil
suits like property, money transactions the witnesses are mentioned
on the written deals. In such cases the tainted or tutored evidence fed by a
lawyer may not work.
7.
In case of witnesses, the parties concerned should bring them
along at the time of reporting the case or on the first day in the courts. They
should be questioned by the lawyers on the same day and then liberated from
future appearances. The FIR or reporting center should remain round the clock.
8.
We have seen in Pakistan that despite incontrovertible evidence
captured in a video or Television coverage, the justice is delayed and law is
not allowed to take its course. So primarily it is the mindset of the judge,
the tricks of lawyer and the the faulty system that delays and determines the
outcome of a case irrespective of the merits. As such strict honest and rigid
ethical uprightness should be the yardstick in the appointment of judges. The
review committees or the appellate courts should have authorities to criticize
and even fire the judges whose conduct looks suspicious, biased or
unprofessional.
9.
The colonies and cabins of the lawyers and sellers of the official
stamps or documents around the court buildings should be disallowed. Instead of
operating from the makeshift booths they should be lodged in proper offices and
the court authorities should check their working conditions. The touts around
the court premises should be barred. The stamp papers sold by the contractors
can be even counterfeit. The court fees and other official charges should be
deposited in a bank or in treasury so that all the money directly goes into the
treasury. In America the fees are collected by at counters located within the
court premises.
10.
Our court buildings are rundown, broken stairs, with walls full of
dirt and stains of betel nut (pan). The design of the court buildings has to be
changed so that in one building all the relevant courts can be accommodated.
Designs and plans of court buildings can be copied from the United States or
western countries. We have seen these buildings to be immaculately organized,
clean, dignified, elevators working, and the court rooms fitted with all the
modern gadgets. We can make similar set up in Pakistan.
11.
It would also be in order to send out jurists and judges and other
members of judiciary to witness the courts operating in advanced societies.
There is a dire need to streamline and update our justice system that on the
whole looks a mockery and negates the dispensation of unalloyed and true
justice.
12.
In one of the counties in Texas in one building I have seen around
30 courts for different hearings. There is no noise or din or chaos anywhere.
There are county courts and municipal and besides immigration courts.
There are no touts or people shouting at each other or courts interior with
broken benches and seats. There are no separate judges’ colonies as we have in
Pakistan. Judges live lie ordinary citizens in the cities, drive their own cars
and attend the courts. The judges are always in the radar or under the watch
for any kind of misconduct.
13.
For eradication of social evils as theft of power, adulteration,
maltreatment of the citizens in government private departments and similar
felonies, the mobile courts should be established to catch the culprits on the
spot and award the punishment. That would serve the imperative of swift justice
and save the litigants from a big hassle and unnecessary spending.
14.
The mobile court has to be equipped with the appliances as
computers and small labs for testing the adulterated food items on the spot. A
magistrate with a posse of police should make surprise visits in all the
bazaars and shopping areas and restaurants to check the prices of food items
and announce punishments on the spot. They can visit also the hospitals for
spurious and expired drugs, used equipment etc or for unhygienic conditions or
negligence by the hospital staff. The electricity and water thieves can be
awarded punishment on the spot in front of the other officials touring with a
judge or the magistrate.
15.
The rapist and molesters should never be allowed to escape under
the Hadood laws or for being influential persons. The eyewitnesses’
condition is irrelevant and unreliable. The forensic and DNA can conclusively
determine who had committed the crime. Even otherwise the victims and their
families and the people in the area know about the culprits and perpetrators of
the crime. So on the spot all information and evidence can be obtained that
takes years for the lawyers to establish and still in many cases the culprits
walk away unpunished.
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