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Police behind huge backlog of cases
By Sajid Bashir
LAHORE
Mostly, police officials assigned to pursue different criminal cases in the city courts skip proceedings which results in delay in the disposal of cases, The News has learnt.
Official figures collected by The News revealed that a huge backlog of 110,466 criminal cases is pending with 55 city courts including 32 sessions courts and 23 magisterial courts. The major reason behind the backlog is that the police officers concerned did not bother to appear before courts to produce relevant record and witnesses, etc.
Criminal cases can not b e proceed until police officers concerned submit case records in the courts, said a senior Lawyer Raja Jehanzeb.
In criminal cases, he maintained, various police personnel had to appear as witness from prosecution side but their absence hampers the proceeding.
On the other hand, when police fail to register a case on a complaint, the complainant approaches the sessions court after which the court directs the police to register the case. Data of delay revealed that 1,486 such orders are still pending with the city police causing a burden on the courts.
Those who suffer the most are litigants because the absence of police officers in cases results in another hearing and those having come from other cities have to appear before the court again. This caused a financial problem for poor litigants because in case of prolonged proceedings of a case, their budget for traveling, boarding and lodging and lawyer’s fee increases.
The new Judicial Policy regarding bail applications emphasized that applications should be decided within five days. It is pertinent to mention that 2,455 bail applications are pending in 32 Sessions Courts and the reason is: the absence of police officials concerned from the courts.
Legal fraternity also holds police responsible for delay in court proceedings. They are of the view that court can not work efficiently until police appear in court with case records on time.
Ahmed Yar Chawli, a High Court advocate, alleged that the cases of minor nature consumed twelve to eighteen months owing to non-appearance of police officials. Giving instances of his claim, he said, police officials deliberately flouted court orders and avoided to appear before judges despite reminders and warnings.
If any police officer does not appear in court with case record, the court can only issue a show-cause notice to him, and if he again doesn’t appear, the court can order to confiscate his salary only.
The court can further direct for issuing his bailable arrest warrants and then non-bailable arrest warrants if he continuously avoids appearing in the court. After the passage of almost one year, the extreme action the court can take against such delinquent police officers is to recommend to the CCPO for registering a case under Police Order 2002, he added.
Talking to The News, District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Mehmood Chauhdry said the pending cases would be decreased soon because the judges had already been directed to take strict action against police officers who were not appearing before the courts with case records.
“Police is responsible to produce case record in the courts, which they are not doing and this is the only reason for the existing pendency in Sessions and Magisterial Courts,” he said.
D&SJ claimed that in every Justice Coordination Committee meeting he urged the SSP Operations and SSP Investigation to take strict measures to ensure the presence of police officers in courts to clear the pending cases.
Responding to the issue, Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Pervaiz Rathore said the police officers did not ignore court orders deliberately and they were just facing the problem of shortage of time. He said the workload on police officers was high due to security concerns in the city. He also claimed that delay in timely delivery of court notices to the police officers was another reason for their non-appearance. However, he said, the issue will be resolved soon.
The News: Friday, June 19, 2009
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