LIKE all machines, the legal system comprises moving parts: gears and wheels, evidence and witnesses. And while it breaks down from time to time, and is prone to being hacked, we do like to believe that sometimes, it produces a little justice. Sometimes. And usually only when it’s being watched carefully.

The amount of attention a case gets depends on a few factors: the most important is whether the case is of a political or quasi-political nature, and the amount of airtime and print space dedicated to such cases varies depending on the personalities involved. The Panama case naturally merits marathon coverage and dissection, and even when there’s nothing to cover or dissect we can easily talk about what is likely to happen in the next hearing, and so on.

How much spotlight non-political cases get usually depends on the magnitude of the case, and criminal cases top the bill in this regard.

How much spotlight do non-political cases get?

But the shelf life of these stories is limited, and once the initial reporting is done, the day-to-day hearings hold little appeal, especially when other juicier and more easily available news beckons.

Let’s start small: in August this year a 16-year-old domestic help named Akhtar was found dead in the Lahore residence of a Ms Fauzia, the daughter of PML-N MPA Shah Jehan. While the family claimed he died of an illness, the police stated that Akhtar had been beaten to death with a club by Fauzia, purportedly because he was late returning from an errand. This version was corroborated by Akhtar’s sister, 11-year-old Atiya, who had also been on the receiving end of such beatings.

When police raided the house, the accused family fled and Akhtar’s body was found in a sack as the accused allegedly had wanted to dispose of it. Certainly, none of this is standard protocol in the case of natural death.

The postmortem report also showed that there were 16 torture marks on the boy’s body. Again, not a hallmark of illness, generally speaking.

None of the accused ever spent a moment in custody, of course, as pre-arrest bail was easily arranged. But that’s no big deal because at least the case had been registered and proceedings had begun.

A few months later, Fauzia stands acquitted as all the prosecution witnesses resiled. Forget the original testimonies, police reports and autopsy reports, the system, instead, chooses to place the greatest value on the weakest link in the chain with the expected results. But hey, at least it was a quick trial.

The Kasur child rape case took a bit longer, but the system didn’t disappoint here either. In April last year, two of the main suspects, Haseem Amir and Faizan Majeed, were awarded life imprisonment, but then in August this year four suspects were acquitted due to the court giving them the benefit of the doubt, and one of those was the same Haseem Amir who had previously been awarded a life sentence.

To the best of our knowledge, this case, with the hundreds of videos and dozens of victims pointing to a depraved criminal enterprise that could not have continued for so long without the knowledge and abetment of local police and notables, has resulted in only one conviction.

Note also that this case and the previous one were both tried in an anti-terrorism court — you know, the ones that were supposed to right the wrongs of a judicial system castigated for being too prone to easy acquittals, pressure and the exploitation of loopholes.

Remember Baldia Town, that little incident in which over 250 human beings were burned alive? Five years on, the case is still in pre-trial. Yes, key suspect Hammad Siddiqui has been arrested in Dubai, but bets are open on whether he’ll be prosecuted, dry-cleaned or prosecuted and then dry-cleaned.

But at least the cases went to court and that’s a tiny sliver of hope to hold on to, right? Other cases barely make a blip on the public radar, let alone go to trial. For example, we all remember former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s GT road rally and the marathon coverage it understandably received. But how many remember Hamid Chughtai, the young boy who was crushed to death by a car in the convoy? Beyond the initial reporting and the flak the PML-N got for calling him the first political martyr of their campaign there was little follow-up, and to date we don’t even know who the driver of the car was or, indeed, the car’s actual licence plate number.

But don’t despair; the police formed a body to probe the affair so justice should be served anytime between now and when the sun is a tiny ball of coal roughly the size of your forehead. Don’t hold your breath unless oxygen deprivation is your idea of a good time.

The writer is a journalist.

Twitter: @zarrarkhuhro

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2017