Provinces oppose public hanging

Representatives of all four provinces on Wednesday opposed the idea of public hanging and collectively supported the idea of hanging any convict in jail premises during a session of Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice held here in the Parliament House. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi wherein a proposed amendment in the law for public hanging was discussed in detail.
During the meeting, provincial home departments' representatives collectively supported the idea of hanging in jail premises. They were of the view that it's the certainty of punishment that serves as a better deterrent than the severity of punishment. The provincial representatives said that a public hanging can have law and order situation as well as adverse psychological impact on minds of children and other factions of society.
The members were discussing whether an amendment would be required in the Pakistan Penal Code for provision of penalty of death by hanging publicly in view of rule 354 of the Prisons Rules, 1978, along with the Criminal Laws (offences relating to kidnapping or abducting a child) (Amendment) Bill, 2018 introduced by Senators Abdul Rehman Malik, Muhammad Javed Abbasi, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani, Jehanzeb Jamaldini and Shahi Syed. Chairman committee put the question before the special invitees and the members that whether the existing mechanism for hanging such criminals is sufficient or amendments should be made in Prison Rules or Pakistan Penal Code to provide for public hangings.
Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology Dr Qibla Ayaz informed the meeting that the CII is of the view that the Prison Rules already provide for provision of 12 witnesses during a hanging. He said that this covers the concept of a public hanging and instead of having a hanging carried out at a public place it should be done in the jail premises with witnesses that can range between 3 and 40 according to Islamic provisions and media can be used to make the public aware of it.
Ministry of Law and Justice also supported the idea that the current mechanism is sufficient and also was of the view that before doing any such legislation, the Supreme Court judgment of 1994 banning public hangings needs to be kept in view. The committee asked the ministry to give its views on requirement of amendment and the judgment of Supreme Court in writing by next week.