05 December 2004	Sunday	22 Shawwal 1425

KARACHI, Dec 4: Out of about 249 under-trial inmates at the Special Prison for Women, more than 118 are availing the free legal aid being provided by the Committee for the Welfare of the Female Prisoners , an NGO headed by retired justice Nasir Aslam Zahid.

Stating this at a function held at the NGO's office next to the prison on Saturday, justice Zahid said that there were 196 under-trial prisoners (UTPs) among the 249 inmates at the jail which put conviction ratio at around 20 per cent. Keeping in view the percentage, he said, it could safely be said that more than 150 of the UTPs might eventually be acquitted.

The function was organized to unveil a painting, by noted artist Nahid Raza, highlighting women prisoners' sorrow and grief. The painting also depicts the agony the innocent children of the prisoners are made to undergo while being with their mothers, convicts or UTPs, in jail. These children have to spend the most precious period of their lives in prison because they have no other place to live.

Justice Zahid observed that one of the reasons of the prolonged stay of such a large number of UTPs in the prison was that most of them could not afford the expenses involved in the litigation process.

The free legal aid centre, he said, had been set up with the financial support from the government as well as the concerned citizens. He said that the monthly expenditure of this centre was about Rs200,000 which could be generated easily as there were many people willing to help poor prisoners.

He pointed out that as many as 22 UTPs remained confined at this prison despite being granted bail because they were unable to arrange the surety amounts fixed by the concerned courts for their release on bail. The amounts ranged from Rs25,000 to Rs200,000, he added.

Justice Zahid was of the view that courts should fix the amount of bail as per the social background of the concerned prisoner.

The legal aid centre shares a common wall with the prison and taking advantage of this, two of the centre's windows have been fixed on the wall to facilitate communication between the prisoners and the lawyers associated with the centre. Due to this facility, prisoners have an easy access to the lawyers as they do not have to seek permission from the jail authorities to leave the prison premises for the purpose. Nor the lawyers have to enter the prison to meet their clients.

Justice Zahid informed the audience that five lawyers were available at the centre which was inaugurated on July 1 this year by the chief justice of Sindh High Court.

Responding to a question, he said that it was just a pilot project and if proved successful, similar centre would be established in other jails. Pointing that that there were more than 4,000 NGOs working in the city, he said some other organizations should come to carry forward the cause.

Speaking on the occasion, IG Prisons Brig Ayaz Mughny said that there were three other women jails, besides many prisons for men, in the province. If the free legal aid project succeeded, efforts could be made to pursue private-public partnership for similar assistance to prisoners in other jails.