PESHAWAR: Police 'ignoring' directorate of prosecution
By Waseem Ahmad Shah
PESHAWAR, Jan 2: The NWFP police have been accused of violating law by seeking opinions from its legal branch instead of the newly established directorate of prosecution, according to informed official sources.
Despite various reminders to the department by the home department, which supervises the prosecution directorate, the police department has not placed 68 legal officers at the disposal of the directorate, it is learnt.
About 80 legal officers are currently working in the police department. Under the prosecution ordinance the investigation police could only seek opinion from the prosecution and not from its legal branch.
A few months back, the government had decided that out of these 80 law officers only 12 would remain with the police department and the rest would join the home department. A sub-inspector in the legal branch told Dawn that he and his colleagues were in a state of confusion.
He said that though they would like to join the home department, the 'high-ups' had created an impression that all the 80 officers wanted to remain with the police department.
Official sources said that the legal branch in the police department had been functioning 'in an illegal manner' after the creation of the prosecution directorate.
After the promulgation of the NWFP Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) Ordinance 2004 on August 25, it had become binding on the investigation police to take legal opinion of the public prosecutor, it was learnt.
However, the police continued to take opinion from its own legal branch. Some lawyers here had alleged that since the police was not in favour of an independent prosecution institute (IPI), it continued with the old practice of consulting its own legal branch.
The prosecution ordinance had envisaged establishment of the institution which also included the directorate of prosecution. The establishment of the IPI was part of the Access to Justice Programme which was funded by the Asian Development Bank.
The IPI was aimed at improving the quality of prosecution as well as addressing the growing number of complaints against the police department. The framers of this law believed that since the prosecution would become an independent body, it would be able to go through the evidence available on record and be in a position to check the high-handedness of police.
However, the police department did not abolish its legal branch which continued to give opinion to the investigation police even after the establishment of the IPI.
