Law minister stresses on use of technology during investigation process

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem emphasised on the use of electronic devices during the investigation process.

The federal minister on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the task force on criminal procedure code reforms constituted by the cabinet.

He said that miscarriage and delay in justice cannot be curtailed without the use of technological support including electronic support, e-mail data, CCTV footage, and such other technological methodology in vogue in the West. Therefore, the minister said that an effective mechanism needs to be defined.

He also said the procedure of lodging the First Information Report (FIR) is found to be highly exploitative. Hence, reforms are needed in areas touching upon the lives of millions in one way or the other.

Law Minister directed all the stakeholders to put their recommendations before the committee for legal reforms to overhaul the country’s criminal justice system.

Home secretaries of all provinces, officials of interior ministry, Secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan and other officials of law ministry also attended the meeting.

Provision of free legal aid

Last week, the law minister chaired a meeting of the committee constituted by to prepare recommendations for setting up a new legal aid mechanism for the poor and vulnerable segment of the society.

The law minister suggested to constitute a Central Legal Aid Authority with sub-committees at provincial levels to provide free legal aid to deserving litigants who might otherwise not be able to defend their genuine legal rights or interests due to limited financial resources.

The proposed authority shall work under the supervision of the Ministry of Human Rights in terms of the rules of business.

During the meeting it was decided that the TORs and the Draft Bill of the proposed Legal Aid Authority shall be finalised within two weeks by the Ministry of Human Rights and will be placed before the committee to be reviewed by relevant stakeholders.

It was also agreed that a core group of lawyers will be nominated to work on pro bono basis for ensuring the implementations of the proposals.