Shootings inside courtrooms
Courtrooms are not safe
anymore in Pakistan. Legally speaking, a court is a place where trials are
conducted and legal cases are decided in accordance with the law. Persons
facing trials, or litigants claiming rights, come to court with a belief that
it is the safest place where their rights will be protected, determined, and
respected; they are under the protection of the law; they will get justice. However,
with an increase in killings, shootings, fighting, and squabbling inside,
outside, or even near the courtrooms, the trust of citizens upon which the
premises of justice stands is started to be diminishing. Therefore, it is high time
to make sure that the courtrooms are the safest place to get justice.
In Pakistan, work in courts have
been divided as per subjects: civil, criminal, family, tax, banking, service
matters, etc. Likewise, in the higher judiciary, work is also distributed
amongst benches. It is becoming common day by day to watch the situation of
chaos inside, outside, or near the courtrooms. What to speak of district
judiciary, even the high judiciary is no exception to it.
Civil and criminal are two major
divisions of the court work. In civil matters, often quarrel amongst litigants
ends with police intervention, even though late, or after catching TV channel
cameras, etc. but never ends with the death of anyone, because only future or
financial interests are involved. However, in criminal matters, the situation
is entirely different, because the loss of life is involved.
In criminal litigation, especially
murder trials, litigants come to court not to get justice but to take revenge. It
is not the hope of justice that is the leading factor, under the present
circumstances of the criminal administration of justice in Pakistan, rather it
is the rage and revenge that urges litigants involved in murder trials to come
to court; many a time, only to get a chance to kill the accused or to injure
him or his family members inside, outside, or near the courtrooms during trial
hearings.
In recent days, only in Punjab, it
can be seen that the situation inside criminal trial courts is very grim.
Moreover, as per news and circulated videos on social media, a man wearing the
uniform of an advocate shot down his target during court proceedings in the presence
of police. Everyone was unsafe: the judge, the prosecutor, the stenographer,
the reader of the court, the police officials, the clerks, the lawyers.
This is not unpreventable, rather
this can be avoided with the use of modern technology. Our criminal laws are as
old as one can think i.e. 1898 Procedure, 1908 Penal Code. When the light was
rarely available. When the Mobile Phones are unimaginable. When the Internet is
beyond thought. When for summons we need many days and a person for this job
only. Whereas, as per research, in 1973, the first call from a hand-held device
was made with a phone-shaped device of Motorola company. And January 1, 1983,
is considered the official birthday of the Internet.
After that life has been changed.
Today the world is on one click. This is the age of light, speed, and the internet.
Sadly, still today we are roaming around the archaic age laws made by colonial
masters not to favour the citizens of the subcontinent rather rule on them.
Resultantly, we are still losing the lives inside, outside, or near the
courtrooms: for what, justice?
Anyhow, by using modern devices not
only this surely can be prevented but also the state expenses can be minimized
of court proceedings. The summoning and attendance of accused persons either on
bail or under custody should be made possible through the use of modern devices
that must be installed inside each criminal trial courtroom. Although the
colonial masters’ designed laws fixed the recording of evidence in the presence
of the accused; however, it does not debar the use of modern devices for
achieving the ends of justice.
In a recent most case titled
Muhammad Israr versus the State, the honourable Peshawar High Court has
provided detailed guidelines that must be followed by trial courts in recording
evidence through the use of modern devices which can be taken as the first drop
of rain. Likewise, the Supreme Court of Pakistan also time and again has
highlighted the use of modern devices in recording the evidence.
Judges should not act as spectators,
and courts should not act as post offices. It has often been seen that accused
persons facing trial moved applications that their lives are under threat, and
judges just pass stereotypes orders for the police officials: mostly to the
Station House Officer of the police station to ensure safety, who in compliance
increase the quantity of deputed officers. Amongst those mostly remained on
various raids, or for whole night security and are too much tired to actively
obey the orders; so, they left things in the hands of fate.
What should be done is that whenever any witness or accused, or any complainant, or even anyone attending court proceedings moved an application of a life threat, it should not be considered lightly, rather his attendance must forthwith be shifted and be ensured through the use of modern devices: one TV, Internet device, and one operator inside the courtroom; one TV, Internet device, and one operator inside the police station in case of persons other than accused or accused on bail, or inside the jail premises in case of accused facing trials. That police station or jail then simply will be connected through the internet and court proceedings can be conducted safely.
This is not rocket science, this is
very simple, a child of today’s age can do it. So, to conclude in the words of
Stephen Hawking that “we are all connected like neurons in a giant brain”, it
is the utmost requirement of the time that safety of lives be ensured inside
the courtrooms through the use of modern technology and use of modern devices
which is available in the hands of more than 180 million citizens of Pakistan.
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