• Law ensures production before magistrate within 24 hours, bars torture
• Officers violating right to silence or failing to provide advocate face fines or jail terms

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday passed a landmark bill aimed at protecting the rights of individuals who are arrested, detained or under custodial investigation.

The Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investi­gation Bill was moved by former Senate chairman and PPP leader Farooq H. Naek, who said it would mark a new dawn for human rights.

Speaking in the upper house of parliament, Mr Naek said Article 14 makes the dignity of man inviolable. He said the bill lays out key rights and protections, including the right to be informed of the grounds of arrest in writing, access to legal assistance, meetings with family members, provision of food and medicines and medical examination by an independent doctor.

He said such rights are available to under-trial prisoners worldwide, while in Pakistan individuals must approach courts to secure them. He stressed that a person is innocent until proven guilty and must not be deprived of basic rights. “They are under-trial prisoners before conviction,” he said, adding that convicted persons lose certain rights.

Mr Naek said the bill also introduced the right to remain silent before a police officer when a lawyer was not present, and prescribed penalties for officers who violated this protection. It also provides for producing an arrested individual before a magistrate within 24 hours, and includes safeguards against torture or cruel treatment.

The bill seeks to ensure humane and fair treatment in custody and prevent abuse of authority by law enforcement agencies.

The bill states that the officer concerned shall be duty bound to ensure that all the rights of a person, as listed under the Act, are fulfilled.

“Any concerned officer who fails to inform any person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation of his right to remain silent and to have a competent and independent advocate, preferably of his own choice, shall suffer a fine of Rs6,000 or a penalty of imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than one year, or both,” it reads.

A proviso states that the same penalties shall be imposed upon any officer, employee, or person acting on the orders of the concerned officer who fails to provide a competent and independent advocate to an arrested, detained or custodially investigated person if the latter cannot afford the services of his own advocate.

“Any person who obstructs or prohibits an advocate, any member of the immediate family of a person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation, or any medical doctor or religious priest/guide chosen by him or by his advocate, from visiting and conferring privately with him, or from examining and treating him, or from ministering to his religious needs, at any hour of the day or, in urgent cases, of the night, shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than one month nor more than one year, and a fine of Rs4,000,” another section states.

“Provided that the concerned officer may take such measures as may be necessary to ensure that persons under custodial investigation are safe and secure,” it adds.

Statement of objects

According to the statement of objects and reasons, the law defines the rights of persons arrested, detained or under investigation, as well as the duties of officials involved in these processes. It also covers the provision of state-assisted advocates and their remuneration. It aligns with global standards and Article 14 of the Constitution and is described as an effort to usher in a human rights revolution. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said there were some reservations about the bill, but he did not oppose it.

The Senate also unanimously passed a bill amending the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 — the Fatal Accidents (Amendment) Bill, 2024 — moved by Senator Shahadat Awan and already cleared by the relevant standing committee.

Mr Awan explained that the amendment to Section 3 allows the family of a fatal accident victim to seek an interim order from the court for a specified amount. Senator Awan’s Limited Liability Part­nership (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was also passed. He said the amendment provides that if a partnership firm fails to file its annual statement of accounts with the SECP on time, it may do so within 30 days of receiving a notice, without facing a Rs1-2 million penalty currently imposed for missing the original deadline.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2025