The crimes of justice

Anticipated death is worse than any execution. For others, awaiting retribution for their violators is worse than the actual offence. In either case, as scores of people who put their faith in the law of the land are condemned to uncertainty, justice becomes the crime.

Hundreds of prosecutions collapse daily due to no-shows, lost or missing paperwork, witness discrepancies, victims and eyewitnesses refusing to testify or loopholes created by law-enforcers. As a result, people endure inhuman interrogations, are locked away like cattle in putrid conditions; their lives eroded day by day with disgrace and isolation. While many may deserve such a fate, many more are guilty of plain bad luck.

Take the recent case of a boiler explosion in a factory in North Karachi that left nine dead and 25 injured. Investigators attributed the accident to negligence by the management. The Investigating Officer (IO), Mohammed Ilyas, blamed the decrepit state of the boiler as well as the inexperienced boiler operator who was given a specialised task by the owners. The owner was arrested on July 24, the day of the incident, and the boiler operator was taken into custody three days later, on July 31. However, it took two months for the IO to submit the charge-sheet to the court. An interim charge-sheet was produced on Aug 9 and a final deadline of Aug 29 was issued by the court. The IO failed to appear on the designated day and sent an application citing his preoccupation in another criminal case as the reason for his absence. He requested more time on Aug 30, appeared without a report on Sept 3 and was given another final date for Sept 7.

Another example is the case of two students of APWA Girls College who were mowed down by a fast-moving bus and over seven students were severely hurt. Five years later, a judge has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against eight police officers who have failed to appear in court as prosecution witnesses.

Human rights lawyer Zia Awan holds the prosecution and investigation system responsible for such delays. “Gaps are created by IOs themselves who compile faulty reports. Most of these officers are police officers, which should not be the case. Then other agencies such as the forensic department, medico-legal department and environment protection agency contribute to the delay and this works for the accused,” says Awan.

Awan maintains that 85 per cent of the prisoners are undertrials, which is a direct burden on the government. “The criminal justice system is outdated. Now there are new crimes and there is no comprehensive law on cyber crime or working women’s issues.”

Former Supreme Court chief justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui seconds Awan’s contentions. “The investigating agencies must be separate from the prosecuting agency. Some time ago, cases pending for over a year were granted bail and ones with the possibility of a death sentence, were given bail after two years. The latter was discarded because many criminals were let out,” says Siddiqui.

However, he also says that the new police order had separated the two agencies and the recently appointed prosecutor-general of Sindh is a senior advocate who reports to the chief minister.

Sources disclose that Rana Shamim, who took over as Prosecutor-General of Sindh over four months ago, still does not have an office or any staff to make his department effective. Although the new police order makes all public prosecutors answerable to him, his office remains inoperative and handicapped despite numerous complaints to the authorities.

But despite his sad circumstances, Rana Shamim has done his spadework. “There are approximately 80,000 cases pending in the sessions courts and another 30,000 are in the high court, federal shariat court and the Supreme Court,” says Shamim.

Most of these cases fail for avoidable reasons as there is little accountability for the taxpayer’s money or the distress caused to the victims and their kin. In the end, justice demands a sense of urgency and its absence has left countless lives to chance.