Law minister calls for proposals to protect women in criminal justice system

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem along with Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Barrister Maleeka Bukhari held a meeting on Monday to develop a comprehensive plan for ensuring protection of women in criminal justice system.

The meeting that was held to seek suggestions from all the concerned stakeholders was attended by officials from provincial law departments, home departments and police departments.

Maleeka Bukhari presented various proposals including secondary legislation on existing laws like National Commission for the Rights of Child Act, 2017; Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018 and Implementation of Anti-honor Killing and Anti-Rape Laws.

Need for enactment of pending legislation was also stressed during the presentation. It was suggested that relevant provisions of Pakistan Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure may be amended to prevent public officials from misusing their authority.

Read More: Minister of State mulls implementation of women protection laws

Since qisas often resulted in compromise in honor crime cases, waiver of qisas until completion of trial was also proposed.

Prosecutor General Punjab Ihtisham Qadir suggested that the prosecutor may be given increased authority in the cases of rape and violence against women. The prosecutor should be able to give directions to the Investigation Officer.

He also stressed the need for the admissibility of scientific evidence like DNA.

IG Gilgit Sanaullah Abbasi suggested increase in level of the investigator to DSP or ASP level to protect the victim.

He further suggested that qisas and diyat laws may be hardened to end compromise in cases pertaining to violence against women.

Bilal Kamyana DIG Lahore called for the misconception regarding Diyat Laws to be removed since Diyat does not apply in cases of intentional murder and murder in cold blood.

Khawar Mumtaz, Fouzia Viqar and Deputy Legislative Advisor Barrister Ambreen Abbasi were also present on this occasion.

Farogh thanked the participants for their valuable suggestions and asked them to share concrete proposals in coming days.