PESHAWAR: As a precautionary measure against coronavirus, the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the district and sessions courts to ensure that prisoners aren’t produced before them until further orders.

The lower courts were also told to depute magistrates for daily visit to prisons in the relevant districts for extending the judicial remand of inmates.

In a letter addressed to all district and sessions judges in the province, high court registrar Khawaja Wajihuddin has issued certain directions on the orders of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth.

The registrar said the district and sessions judges should invoke sections 540-A and 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) so that the undertrial accused should not be unnecessarily exposed to the lethal virus while appearing on every hearing.

He added that the accused facing trial should not be produced before courts until further orders.

Section 205 of CrPC empowers a magistrate to dispense with personal attendance of an accused and permit him to appear by his or her pleader.

Similarly, Section 540-A of the CrPC provides for the holding of inquiries or trials during the absence of an accused in the hearing into certain cases.

The section said at any stage of an inquiry or trial, where two or more accused are before the Court, if the judge or magistrate is satisfied that any one or more of such accused is or are incapable of remaining before the Court, he may, if such accused is represented by a pleader, dispense with his attendance and proceed with such inquiry or trial in his absence. The court may at any subsequent stage of the proceedings, direct the personal attendance of such accused.

The high court also directed the district and sessions judges to depute a magistrate on a daily basis to visit the prison of the district concerned in connection with matters falling under Section 344 of the CrPC, so the accused should not be brought to the court premises until further orders.

The section empowers a court to postpone commencement of or adjourn any trial for such time as it considers reasonable and may remand an accused if in custody.

Meanwhile, all visitors are being checked by thermal guns for coronavirus at the entrance to the high court premises. Staff members of the court check all visitors to the premises.

Three days ago, an emergency meeting was held at the high court regarding coronavirus with the registrar in the chair. The meeting took certain decisions. The high court requested members of the bar to encourage their clients and litigants not to visit courts unnecessarily.

It decided that an advisory should be issued for only necessary litigants to attend courts, while all unnecessary parties should avoid attending hearings. The meeting declared said the cases not of urgent importance, which were clubbed, should be re-listed.

It added that a temporary quarantine would be established at the high court’s basic health unit, while a suspected coronavirus case would be referred to the Services Hospital or other tertiary care hospital for further investigations.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2020