HYDERABAD, June 27: Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid has called for “social contact education” of superior court judges and they should attend seminars so that they could interact with the people.

He observed that it would help judges in deciding cases while considering socio-economic conditions of accused/applicants.

He was speaking at a function to mark the international day in support of victims of torture here at the Sindh Museum, organized by the Sindh National Council on Thursday.

Justice Zahid said that the judges grant bail in a sum of Rs200,000 notwithstanding the fact that the accused could not even afford Rs5 from his/her pocket while in jail.

He said only justice was not enough as judges were also required to first overcome the deficiency on the part of the accused and then apply principle of equality for defence and the prosecution side because accused does not know whether he has to plead guilty or not in the absence of legal assistance.

Deploring conditions of women prisoners in Larkana and Karachi women jails, he pointed out they were not produced in courts regularly and added that women having nine children were in jail, facing narcotics cases.

He said that under-trial women prisoners have passed the term which could have been awarded to them in case of conviction.

He added that except in cases of NAB and murder, 99 per cent women who were languishing in jail belonged to the poorest of the poor of society.

He said that in one case a woman was granted bail in a sum of Rs200,000 despite the fact that she could not afford Rs5 from her pocket, and added that such things caused mental torture.

He said that one third of cases pertained to the Zina Hudood Ordinance against women.

He said that things could drastically change in case there was funding for the judiciary and prisoners.

Recalling that when he was chief justice of the Sindh High Court, the government made 10 per cent deduction in the SHC’s budget, and added we are living in an Islamic state of which justice is the foundation.

He said that in Sindh province the feudal lords had cheated the people of Sindh.

Chairman SNC Hussain Bux Thebo, Sindh Democratic Party (SDP) Chief Yousuf Leghari, Prof Mushtaq Mirani, Noor Naz Agha of the International Human Rights Alliance, and Prof Mehtab Shah also spoke on the occasion.