LAHORE: It will be unfair to punish someone for an act they do not know they have done, a press release issued by the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) quoted Justice Umar Ata Bandial as saying.

Justice Bandial said this at the Judicial Conference on Mental Health and Mens Rea, arranged by JPP in collaboration with the Lahore High Court and the Punjab Judicial Academy on Saturday.

Commenting on the role of civil society, the Supreme Court judge stated that it could inform the judiciary on matters of mental health to assist its litigation of cases in which it is pertinent.

Other speakers included international experts in mental health, forensic psychiatry, and civil and criminal justice systems, including former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice Michael A Wolff, internationally renowned mental health expert Dr George Washington Woods, and notable American attorneys Robin Maher, Mark Olive and Robert McGlasson.

Amongst the local participants were Lahore High Court judges, including Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh, Justice Farrukh Irfan, Justice Abdul Sattar, Justice Asjad Javeid Ghural, Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmed and Justice Habibullah Amir.

Justice Mamoon Sheikh, who presided over the proceedings, said: “The issues that were highlighted regarding the difficulties faced by those who suffer from mental illnesses during trial have come to the fore making an important case for judges, lawyers and mental health professionals to collaborate to find out the truth, and uphold what is just.”

He added: “To achieve that, civil society needs to play an important role, as it did in the case of Imdad Ali, in other mental health cases.”

Prof Malik Hussain Mubbashar, Dr Haroon Ahmad, Brig Dr Mowadat Rana also shared their expertise in diagnosing and measuring mental health.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2017