KARACHI, Nov 12: A plan to expand the judicial lock-up meant for undertrial prisoners at the city courts has been delayed considerably due to a row over demolition of some chambers of lawyers, who got a stay order from the Sindh High Court against its expansion.
The existing city courts lock-up was built in 1940 for a small number of prisoners. However, now a lack of capacity to accommodate more than 500 UTPs on a daily basis has caused serious problems to officials and resulted in an inhuman treatment to the UTPs.
Many UTPs had managed to escape from the partly damaged and overcrowded lock-up during the recent years. The facility is at a very low level and when it rains, both the staff and the UTPs face great hardship.
On Aug 15, 2007, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had ordered an immediate expansion of the judicial lock-up, but the constructionwork started about four years later i.e. in April 2011, after the demolition of canteens No 1 and 2 and some cabins.
The work was stalled within seven months (November, 2011) when a lawyers’ body resisted the move to demolish the chambers of some of its members located adjacent to the lock-up.
Over 30 chambers/cabins of lawyers and oath commissioners are located adjacent to the under-construction lock-up building. The Karachi Bar Association opposed the demolition and demanded alternative space for the lawyers to be affected by the new construction.
The Rs40 million project suffered a major blow when the lawyers managed to get a stay order against the lock-up’s expansion from the SHC.
The then secretary of the KBA, Haider Imam Rizvi, said that around 30 chambers of lawyers located adjacent to the under-construction lock-up had been there for over five decades and the authorities concerned must provide alternative chambers to the lawyers before demolition.
He added that the KBA also put the issue before the administrative committee of the SHC and approached the government.
However, the present leadership of the KBA was unaware of any development regarding resettlement of those who might be affected due to the demolition.
The incumbent president and secretary made it clear that they would strongly resist any move to pull down the chambers until alternative offices were provided.
One of the lawyers, who moved the SHC, said that they would vacate the chambers if alternative offices provided to them.
He said no sincere effort had so far been made on part of the authorities concerned about their resettlement.
UTPs suffer due to low capacityOfficials said that due to the old and low-capacity lock-up they had to chain the UTPs together.
They said that shortage of staff and prisoners’ vans also created problems for proper transportation of the UTPs.
Apart from poor security arrangements and inhuman treatment meted out to the UTPs at the old lock-up, the unfinished project was adding miseries to other people who were suffering more when prisoners’ vans were parked in front of the main gate of the lock-up for the UTPs’ transportation.
Keeping in view the sufferings of the people, it was also proposed that the main gate of the planned lock-up be opened on Raja Riaz Shaheed Road, formerly Lewis Road, so that prison vans directly entered the enclosure.
However, this could not be implemented as the expansion project had been halted.