Model courts Rawalpindi decide 250 criminal cases in a week

People at large hail decision of chief justice LHC;
demand action against ‘tout mafia’ which is the root of delay in justice

Rawalpindi

Clients have highly appreciated establishment of model courts here in the judicial complex, Rawalpindi which decided over 250 criminal cases and recorded statements of more than 500 witnesses in different cases in a week. In order to provide speedy justice and to clear the massive backlog of cases, a pilot project was launched on May 11 with four model courts in Rawalpindi and one each in Taxila and Gujar Khan.

District Bar Association (DBA), Rawalpindi General Secretary Irfan Ahmed Khan Niazi said that poor clients are happy with the decision. The ratio of decisions in criminal cases was excellent as clients got speedy justice, he claimed. He has lauded Chief Justice Lahore High Court (LHC) Mansoor Ali Shah who took personal interest in setting up model courts. 

While talking to ‘The News’ poor clients belonging to different walks of life have strongly appreciated establishment of model courts in Rawalpindi. They have demanded that more such courts should be set up. They said that they have been visiting the courts for years and the system is so slow and cumbersome that thousands of cases of different nature are still pending with courts.

Muhammad Khurram Kiani, a client from Kallar Syedan, said that such courts are a ray of hope for the poor who have spent heavily out of their meagre sources to appear in courts. He said that some of cases were decided after the death of clients which was unfortunate. He appreciated the spirit behind the decision and prayed to the government that this should be made obligatory for courts to adjudicate cases as early as possible and this should be made a permanent feature.

Faiza Haroon, a lady client said that she was thankful to chief justice LHC for the decision that was overdue. Speedy justice will discourage criminals and this would bring down crime rate considerably.

Shahzad Ahmed, another client said that cooperation of police investigation and lawyer’s interest will help courts administer speedy justice. He added that around 80 per cent cases first go to lower courts. To decided cases expeditiously at the lower stage would lighten the burden on superior judiciary too.

Mumtaz Ahmed too was happy at the setting up of model courts. However he warned that higher authorities must take care of ‘tout mafia’ that was roaming all around in judicial complex as per routine. The ‘tout mafia’ is the root cause of most of delays and they loot the simple and poor villagers who have to attend the courts. He also warned that honourable judges and magistrates should be very strict in adjourning a case.

It may be recalled that in his speech on May 10, LHC chief justice observed that as many as 700 judges would be required to fill gaps and clear the huge backlog of around 600,000 cases currently pending in the province.

He issued orders for appointment of three senior civil judges in each district. One of these judges would be responsible for taking care of administrative issues, including the summons to litigants.

An automated system would soon be set up to make the process of issuing notices and summons more effective, it was learnt. District and Sessions Judge, Rawalpindi Sohail Nasir who is monitoring model courts was also highly satisfied with the performance of courts and judgments passed by judges. He was confident that these steps would bring immense relief for the common man.