Standards of investigation, prosecution deteriorating: CJP

The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, has said that the standard of investigation and prosecution was deteriorating day by day.
"We have collected data from the courts, police, prosecution and jail authorities, and found that 40 percent of case challans are not produced in the court on one pretext or the other," he observed while addressing a seminar on 'Criminal Justice System, Prosecution & Investigation', organised during the First Judicial Academies Summit here on Sunday. In his keynote address, he said that there was no effective prosecution and investigation of cases, and influentials seem to create problems for investigation.
"Sometimes there is a list of witnesses, but they remain untraceable. Victims are badly suffering while accused are roaming freely," he added.
The Chief Justice said that political influences and social pressure badly affect the performance of investigation institutions. The bar, the investigation agencies and prosecution are duty bound to administer justice and uphold the supremacy of rule of law, he said.
"The Constitution of Pakistan requires the State to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice," he pointed out. The Chief Justice, commenting on basic components of 'Criminal Justice - Criminal and Justice', said that it was aimed to prevent the occurrence of crime, punish the criminals, rehabilitate them and compensate the victims as far as possible. About the extra-judicial killings, he said these incidents are in violation of law and right to life as safeguarded in Article-6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Police Rights, and Article-10 provides important safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention, and Article 10-A guarantees fair trial. Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry said that a new service for prosecution of criminal cases has been established in all provinces to ensure prosecutorial independence in criminal justice system of the provinces. He observed that weaknesses in investigation, structural flaws in the whole system and lack of co-ordination among the stakeholders at grass-roots level have been causing an increase in litigation in society and dismally low conviction rate.
"Low conviction system is worrisome," he further observed. The CJP said that negligence on the part of the investigating agency badly damages the prosecution case. Therefore, there is need to improve the quality of investigation by educating the investigators with the current laws.