Sluggish police investigation system
The slow investigation system of the police is the biggest reason why Pakistanis don’t get justice on time. Icing on the cake, due to the rude and sluggish arrogant behavior of police junior officials, people are afraid to report their cases as they don’t want to get themselves indulge in a long series of visits to the police stations and courts, causing the crime rates to further increase. In addition, due to the high burden of court cases, our judges do not pressure investigating officers to solve a case too soon. Also, the superintendents are not performing their duties efficiently. As a result, the investigation process takes months and even years in some cases. For that reason, police reforms are the need of the hour, where the police should collect the evidence, do their investigation, and serve the accused in front of the courts right on time. And only then will citizens be able to trust on police and judicial system again and will not be afraid to report their complaints, if any.The rising crime in Punjab needs reforms like the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police have recently introduced to enhance the conviction rate, as the existing system in the province seems inadequate to provide relief to the public at large.According to the data, Punjab’s all divisions, including Lahore city, have reported a surge in heinous crimes,counting murder, kidnapping for ransom, gang rape, dacoity, robbery, etc.It showed that all the divisions of the Punjab police had reported more than 10,000 cases of the above-mentioned crimes this year, showing a tremendous increase in the street and other crimes.The gang rape and target killing cases also witnessed an increase, as was evident from the data. The increase in crime rate in Punjab has reflected that the existing police system requires some reforms like the ICT police introduced recently by shifting its focus towards the police stations of the city.
The police experts including Inspector General Punjab Police (Dr. Usman) believe that the ICT police’s attempt to introduce specialization in the decades-old system would help enhance service delivery, as they were triangulation of three important statutes, including the Code of Criminal Procedure, Police Order 2002, and guidelines of the courts.Also, Dr. Usman is putting a lot of effort in bringing a change in operation and investigation wings of Punjab police. The Islamabad police strengthened the system by establishing a new Criminal record Unit, Capital Investigation Branch, Investigation Technical Experts Units, Legal Experts Unit, Robbery, Dacoity Unity, Homicide Investigation Unit, and Special Sexual Offences Investigation Unit.Also, it has defined the role of the heads of the above-mentioned units and other members through the standard operating procedure.It will help all other provinces if they adapt the same model. Additionally, the strongest action should be taken against all the police stations, where citizens are not dealt right.Our judicial system must focus on hard work, so that the pending cases can be solved and the justice should be served on time. The Chief Justice of Pakistan (Justice Umar Ata Bandial), and Chief Justice Lahore High Court (Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti)should take strict notice on slow investigation and judicial system.
For a peaceful, civilized, and developed society, citizens must be spared from crimes like looting, robbery, dacoity, attempted murder, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. Accused are kept away from such crimes by applying correctional measures through criminal justice system. Globally, the police department is first and foremost constituent of system of criminal justice which signifies civil authority of government. It is responsibility of police to enforce law in public. If rule is enacted, lives and property of people will be protected in a better way. Contrary to that, if it is not enforced in any place, disorder, and anarchy spread very fast. So, I can simply conclude that the importance of police is very high. However, due to some reasons that I have mentioned earlier, the concept of police is not so popular among our public.In some cases, even if the police officials do a great job, they are not much appreciated if compared to other armed forces. Instead, people mostly declare it as fake.
According to me, acquittal of accused from courts due to insufficient evidence collected byinvestigating officers (IOs) has become a major cause in Pakistan. Notwithstanding most of the accused having confession are acquitted from courts due to poor prosecution. In this way, acquittal of accused is not only a problem for complainant but also a question mark upon Criminal Justice System. After committing a crime, accused, who is acquitted, become sign of terror for all surroundings. And one of the major reasons behind this failure is the lack of sufficient knowledge, and professional training of our investigating officers. They are not well aware about legal parameters, their inability to read/analysis of CDR, CCTV footage, non-serious attitude towards preservation and submission of samples. Also, it has been seen that the four previous IGs of the Punjab police were unable to make any changes for the betterment of the department.
Thus, the system needs a change. Before appointment, the investigation officer must be given proper, professional training. Additionally, he should be informed about the professional ethics, that his duty is to serve the humanity, and help victims in getting the justice, through fair investigation. Also, it has been seen that in some critical murder and robbery cases, police officials are threatened by the powerful, resulting in not so efficient investigation. So, it is requested to IG Punjab (Dr. Usman) that all the police officers must be provided with security and make them ensure that the department will have their back if they ever have to make tough decisions by investigating the corrupts, and powerful. By saying this, I hope that the police system will become fair and people will no longer have to wait for months to get the justice.
The writer is a Senior Social &Criminal AnalystCan be found at figure786@hotmail.com
