IHC proposes policy to decide criminal pleas in three months.

Byline: Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD -- A day after ordering acquittal of some suspects in criminal cases and acknowledging loopholes in the criminal justice system, the IslamAabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday proposed a policy to conclude criminal appAeals within three months which otherwise linger on for decades.

According to the propoAsed draft policy for fixation of criminal appeals against conviction, the IHC administration has 'laid down the procedure for fixing the criminal appeal for hearing, prescribed the timeframe for completing legal formalities and then set the schedule to conclude the appeals'.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Monday deciAded seven criminal appeals and acquitted the suspects who had been kept behind bars for over a decade.

Justice Minallah obserAved that the existing criminal justice system 'fails to prevent and prosecute crime' while it was 'perpetuating miscarriages of justice and appears to have become a source of grave injustice' and 'appears to be on the brink of collapse'.

Under the existing criminal justice system, criminal appeals take years to decide and some time suspects are acquitted posthumously, after dying of natural causes while in incarceration.

According to the proposed policy, 'every criminal appeal against conviction is decided and disposed of within ninety (90) days from the date it has been entertained on the judicial side'.

Criminal appeals against conviction are received in two modes: either through the superintendent of the prison where the convict is incarcerated or through a counsel engaged by the latter.

The proposed draft states: 'Criminal appeals against conviction shall be fixed in the week following the date on which they have been received.'

In the next step, it suggests that after the court entertains an appeal, the registrar office will issue notices to the parties through police station concerned and ensure service of the notice in 10 days.

Meanwhile, the registrar office 'shall requisition the record and prepare paper book within 15 days'.

The office will ask the parties while serving notices to intimate the names of the counsels. In case a party fails to give intimation within 10 days from service...