JUSTICE delayed till the evening could indeed turn out to be justice expedited. The first evening courts in Pakistan have been set up amid much excitement. A pilot project under which family courts have begun to operate in the evenings in Lahore, in addition to the usual morning proceedings, was launched on Friday. One major objective of the arrangement is to ensure that the children who have to appear in courts as a result of being caught in family conflicts can do so later in the day without having to miss school. Those who are familiar with the proceedings in family courts will understand how big a relief this would be. It is also hoped that the experiment being carried out under the watchful eye of the superior courts can help in clearing the vast backlog of cases. The pile of pending cases has been a source of unending complaints by many litigants who will now have the choice of an evening hearing. In the next phase, the intention is to have evening family courts in any of the 36 districts of Punjab where the workload justifies the application of the formula. In time, it is expected that this new venture will be extended to the courts generally; it would necessitate the induction of more judges and associated staff for the smooth running of judicial affairs.

The experiment marks the beginning of a new era where the emphasis will be on how best to exploit the later hours of the day in aid of the people who have so far been crammed into a tight schedule without any respite. In the past, attempts have been made to break the routine and create choices for people wherever possible. Schools have functioned in the evenings and some public-sector hospitals have broken with tradition and tried to run outpatient departments in the evenings to complement their morning work hours. Successful evening courts could set a precedent that would be impossible to not follow.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2018