LAHORE: The judicial inquiry reports could not be used for acquitting or convicting anyone but they should be made public for they determine the fate of a nation if written by senior judges, says criminal law expert Pervaiz Inayat Malik.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, he wondered why the Punjab government was afraid of making public the Justice Najafi inquiry report on the Model Town incident if it was a mere ‘harmless information’. It was made by a judge of the Lahore High Court and should have been treated with honour.

“Reports of inquiries conducted by magistrates, district and sessions judges or the judges of the high or supreme courts are important and carry the honour of the judiciary,” he said.

Mr Malik said all such reports of inquiries conducted right from 1947, including the one into Abbottabad incident, should be made public. Such reports play an important role in the progress of nations and there was no use of hiding them but they could be used for correcting the wrongs, he added.

He went on to say that he had not seen the inquiry report yet but such judicial inquiry reports normally pointed out negligence on part of a department or official.

Such reports could be used as evidence in a trial or could be helpful in the investigation of a case but no-one could be convicted or acquitted on their basis,” he said and added that in trial, the benefit of doubt went to the accused.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017