PESHAWAR: The city police have set up a special desk to ensure the regular witness appearance in the recently-formed Model Criminal Trial Court to ensure speedy disposal of the cases of heinous crimes, including murders.

The Peshawar High Court had ordered last month the establishment of 27 model courts in all districts of KP except tribal districts.

The MCTC was set up in light of the recent recommendations of National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee for conducting trial into cases on day-to-day basis.

Form special desk for the purpose saying it will facilitate speedy disposal of cases

City police Chief Qazi Jamilur Rehman told Dawn that the high court had established the Model Criminal Trial Court to expeditiously try and dispose of cases of heinous crimes like murder.

Mr Jamil said the mainstay of those trials was the witnesses and that the police officials and officers were witnesses in all cases from investigation officer to marginal witnesses.

“In order to ensure that our witnesses appear on due dates and testify as per law, a special desk has been established, which will be headed by a DSP who will coordinate with the MCTC to ensure the presence of witnesses,” he said.

The details available with Dawn show that the special desk will be headed by DSP investigation city and assisted by staff and that it would keep liaison with the MCTC for the production/appearance of witness of case property/witness in trials.

The desk has been tasked with ensuring the getting if schedule of all such cases from MCTC wherein witnesses or property will be produced for trial purposes.

It will later get posting details of all such officials summoned by the court.

A document revealed that if a witness summoned by the MCTC was transferred out of the district or other unit, the desk would inform court forthwith but a copy of the same would be faxed to the relevant district police officer or unit head for compliance.

The desk after procuring the posting details will communicate the summons to officers/officials concerned through respective SDPO/SHOs who will further ensure the appearance of witnesses on due date and time under intimation to the desk.

In case of non-compliance of summons/warrants, the SSP operations/investigations will proceed departmentally against the delinquent officials concerned, under intimation to the city police chief office.

The document said the desk would also maintain proper record of the witnesses, who appeared before the court and recorded evidence, while the desk would also procure judgement of MCTC and would refer them to the assessment committees already constituted by the orders of the KP police chief.

SSPs of operations and investigations have been tasked with monthly reviewing the city police desk, identifying problem areas and ensuring steps to address those shortcomings.

The document noted that the establishment of MCTC was a revolutionary step for speedy disposal of criminal cases and hopefully that it would go a long way in clearing the backlog of heinous cases.

It added that it was a matter of fact that witnesses play a pivotal role in conviction/acquittal of an accused.

The document said a criminal cases most of the times, the evidence entirely depended upon the ocular testimony but it had been observed that witnesses either miss the court proceedings due to other professional commitments or were not timely communicated, which at times led to acquittal in heinous criminal cases and therefore, there was a dire need for constant and consistent coordination to the problem.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019