ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Monday deferred the consideration of a bill against enforced disappearances following objections over one of its clauses.

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior met with Senator Mohsin Aziz in the chair to deliberate over the bill titled “Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2022”.

State Minister for Law and Justice Senator Shahadat Awan told the committee that the bill was about enforced disappearances and according to one of the clauses, a complainant could be imprisoned for up to five year if their petition against enforced disappearance later turned out to be false. He noted that the clause would stop people from reporting such cases, therefore, it was vital to revise the bill. The committee advised the interior ministry to remove the ambiguity and deferred it till the next meeting.

The committee also took up a bill titled “Anti Rape (Amendment) Bill, 2022” introduced by Senator Aziz.

He told the committee that the bill was aimed at tracing and tracking the locations of offenders to restrain them from committing any future offence.

However, Mr Awan claimed that the bill was against Article 15 of the Constitution, which outlines freedom of movement of the citizens. The committee deferred the consideration of the bill till the next meeting as well.

During the proceedings, Senator Fawzia Arshad introduced a bill titled “Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2022,” to make the presence of women police constables mandatory during the arrest of women accused of any offence. However, the state minister said that this provision was already a part of police rules and the problem lied with its implementation.

The committee also took up the matter of ‘brutal’ use of force by law enforcement agencies against the participants of the PTI’s “Haqeeqi Azadi March” in April.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2022