RAWALPINDI: The chief justice of Pakistan on Wednesday expressed concern over the number of acquittals in murder trials because of flaws in investigations.

Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who is also the chairman of the Law and Justice Commission, was speaking during a meeting of the Police Reform Committee.

Justice Khosa spoke about acquittals in murder cases after Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab retired Capt Arif Nawaz Khan informed the meeting about the performance of police complaint redress centres and shared details of action taken against delinquent police officials.

He also shared data from district assessment committees (DAC) that analysed acquittals in murder cases between Jan 1 and July 31 this year. The data found a 31pc conviction rate and 69pc acquittal rate in the total number of decided cases (2,586) in Punjab during this period.

Mr Khan told the meeting that the DAC reports would help address flawed investigations, as a specialised investigation school has been established in the province where investigation officers will be trained in light of these reports.

DACs have been set up at the district level across the country and are working to improve the quality of police investigations, he said.

Justice Khosa praised the work of the committees and said that information on the police complaint redress centres showed public confidence and trust, reducing the unnecessary burden of thousands of cases on the judiciary.

Law and Justice Commission Secretary Dr Mohammad Raheem Awan said that 24,387 complaints were pending across the country on Jan 1. In addition, 77,451 complaints were instituted and 95,041 were disposed of between Jan 1 and Sept 15.

He said that delinquent police officials were given 144 major and 479 minor penalties during this period. In addition, 20,796 complaints regarding the non-registration of FIRs were filed, of which 19,123 were disposed of and 2,593 are pending.

Dr Awan also gave a comparative statement of writ petitions and petitions filed under sections 22-A and 22-B of the CrPC, from January to Sept 15, 2019, alongside the previous year.

The data revealed that 14,733 writ petitions were instituted in the high court in 2018, while 12,187 writ petitions were instituted between January and Sept 15, 2019. He attributed the 17.3pc reduction in the filing of writ petitions to the effective performance of police complaint redress centres.

He also placed statistics from the district judiciary between Jan 1, 2018, and Sept 15, 2018, before the committee, showing that 186,587 petitions were filed under 22-A and 22-B in that time. He said there was a 33.4pc reduction in the workload of district courts this year, with 124,330 such petitions being filed.

IGP Islamabad Mohammad Amir Zulfiqar Khan told the meeting that Police Order 2002 needs to be enforced in the capital. He also said that because of the certainty of trials in model courts, the crime rate in Islamabad has fallen.

He said the number of sentences under section 182 of the CrPC was very low and needed to be increased to deter the registration of false cases.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2019