ISLAMABAD, April 13: The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved a law reforms package aimed at curtailing discretionary powers of police by introducing changes in civil and criminal statutes and removing procedural flaws in the judicial system. Addressing a press conference soon after the meeting, Law and Justice Minister Wasi Zafar said the cabinet had approved 39 draft amendments, of which 17 changes pertained to criminal laws and 22 had been proposed in criminal laws.

He said a bill would be tabled in parliament soon to get these amendments approved. The draft amendments were aimed at ensuring expeditious disposal of cases and providing justice to people without delay.

APP adds: He said the amendments had been finalized in consultation with senior lawyers and the draft had been sent to all bar councils for recommendations and added that the law ministry had received a positive response from the bar councils.

He said it was a major achievement as the system of administration of justice was confronted with case-load and added that the situation would deteriorate unless the requisite legal/judicial measures were timely adopted.

He said the amendments had been proposed in the Civil Procedure Code, 1908; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898; Special Relief Act, 1877; Power of Attorney Act, 1882; General Clauses Act, 1877; Registration Act, 1908; and the Pakistan Penal Code.

The minister said a provision was being proposed to provide punishment for dishonest investigation by police which, he added, would help curb the menace and redress the grievances of the aggrieved.

In order to safeguard the rights of women, he said, the law relating to bail was being amended so that women could be released on bail except in offences pertaining to narcotics, terrorism, robbery, dacoity or murder. This, he hoped, would lessen the misery of women who had been languishing in jails without trial.

Mr Zafar said illegal confinement by a police officer was being made an offence punishable with imprisonment up to seven years and the offender would also be liable to fine.

Through these law reforms, he said, the mechanism of ‘alternate dispute resolution’ was being introduced in criminal cases f or disposal of compoundable offences through mediation and conciliation.

He said a police officer failing to record an FIR in a cognizable offence would be liable to prosecution under Article 155 of the Police Order, 2002.

He said wide powers of police to arrest were being curtailed and added that an amendment was being proposed to inform the arrested person about the gist of the offence for which he had been detained and to inform his family about the arrest.

He said the punishment for fraud and forgery was being enhanced to curtail the number of such cases, particularly those involving immovable property.

The minister said that in case the charge-sheet was not submitted within the prescribed period, the court would pass an order directing that an entry of negligence be made in the service record of the police officer concerned.

He said an amendment was being proposed empowering the trial court to take action against the delinquent to reduce court delays due to non-attendance of witnesses and non-production of documents in criminal cases.

Condemned prisoners, he said, would not be shifted to death cells without confirmation of the sentence by the high court.

He said a provision was being included in the law allowing the court to consider certain factors while awarding sentence such as age, health, character and antecedents of the guilty.

Mr Zafar pointed out that powers of attorney were often misused and said that to meet such situation those powers would be renewable every three years.

For an expeditious disposal of cases and preventing abuse of the process, courts were being empowered to adopt any fair procedure not inconsistent with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code.

The procedure for summons was being simplified and made effective by adopting all possible modes for the service of the parties through modern devices at the first instance, he said.

To curtail delays, the minister said, it had been proposed that the defendant in all cases would file a written statement within 30 days.

He said district judges were being empowered to provide relief to people at the doorsteps by issuing directions to the concerned functionaries or officials of local, provincial and federal governments to refrain from doing unlawful acts and to perform duties as required by the law.