ISLAMABAD: A day after ordering acquittal of some suspects in criminal cases and acknowledging loopholes in the criminal justice system, the Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday proposed a policy to conclude criminal app­eals within three months which otherwise linger on for decades.

According to the propo­sed draft policy for fixation of criminal appeals against conviction, the IHC administration has “laid down the procedure for fixing the criminal appeal for hearing, prescribed the timeframe for completing legal formalities and then set the schedule to conclude the appeals”.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Monday deci­ded seven criminal appeals and acquitted the suspects who had been kept behind bars for over a decade.

Justice Minallah obser­ved that the existing criminal justice system “fails to prevent and prosecute crime” while it was “perpetuating miscarriages of justice and appears to have become a source of grave injustice” and “appears to be on the brink of collapse”.

Under the existing criminal justice system, criminal appeals take years to decide and some time suspects are acquitted posthumously, after dying of natural causes while in incarceration.

According to the proposed policy, “every criminal appeal against conviction is decided and disposed of within ninety (90) days from the date it has been entertained on the judicial side”.

Criminal appeals against conviction are received in two modes: either through the superintendent of the prison where the convict is incarcerated or through a counsel engaged by the latter.

The proposed draft states: “Criminal appeals against conviction shall be fixed in the week following the date on which they have been received.”

In the next step, it suggests that after the court entertains an appeal, the registrar office will issue notices to the parties through police station concerned and ensure service of the notice in 10 days.

Meanwhile, the registrar office “shall requisition the record and prepare paper book within 15 days”.

The office will ask the parties while serving notices to intimate the names of the counsels. In case a party fails to give intimation within 10 days from service of the notice, the case will be fixed as per the schedule.

The parties after receipt of notices are supposed to furnish written submissions. The office after receiving the written submissions will provide the copies to the parties in the matter or their lawyers.

As per the policy, the counsels may file written arguments via email to the deputy registrar judicial.

Likewise, the advocate general, attorney general and relevant organisations “shall be responsible to nominate their respective representatives to receive and submit documents”.

“It shall be the duty of the registrar office to complete all the aforementioned formalities within 30 days from the date when the appeal against conviction has been entertained. The appeal shall be fixed in the week following completion of the formalities after seeking consent of the counsels,” the proposed policy states. “The hearing shall not be adjourned due to absence of a counsel and the appeal shall be decided on the basis of written arguments/submissions.”

Under the policy, district and sessions judges are also asked to ensure that trials in criminal cases are concluded expeditiously, preferably within 90 days from the date of submission of report under section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), commonly known as police challan.

The IHC additional registrar judicial has circulated the draft among the stakeholders, including judges, the Pakistan Bar Council, Islamabad Bar Council, presidents of IHC bar and district bar associations and superintendent of Rawalpindi Central Jail for “circulation amongst the inmates of the prison whose cases are pending before this court [IHC] or any other court within its jurisdiction”.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020