Progress of model courts praised by litigants

Rawalpindi

The newly established model courts in the Rawalpindi district have so far decided over 2,000 criminal and civil cases in around 80 days. The eight model courts and four civil courts which were set up in Rawalpindi decided 912 criminal and 1,088 civil cases in short span of time.

Clients have highly appreciated establishment of model courts here in Rawalpindi which decided over 2000 criminal and civil cases. 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. The number of model courts is increasing with the passage of time.

According to information collected by ‘The News’ from district courts, Rawalpindi under the pilot project in the district, eight model sessions courts had decided as many as 627 civil appeals in the past two months.

Similarly, criminal cases decided by the model courts, that 113 of these related to murder, 589 to narcotics, and 117 to other criminal activities. The courts also examined as many as 2,947 witnesses in these criminal cases. They sentenced 15 to death and 14 to life in prison. The model courts also acquitted 271 suspects after finding them not guilty. In minor cases, the court ordered seven suspects to spend their sentence in community work. Of the 510 civil appeals, 456 were old appeals and 54 were new civil appeals.

The four model civil courts decided 931 cases in two months, 731 were old cases, while 200 were new cases. The model courts also examined 1170 witnesses presented by both, the plaintiffs and the defendants.

The District and Sessions Judge (DSJ), Rawalpindi Sohail Nasir in a statement said that a court had been tasked to work on alternate dispute resolution (ADR). Under the ADR, 45 cases were referred to the court and the parties were convinced to reconcile in 43 cases. He added that they had employed modern technologies in resolving cases such as short messaging services (SMS), cell phone calls, chat apps such as Viber, Whatsapp, and Skype to summon or record statements of witnesses for speedy disposal of pending cases.

He appreciated cooperation extended by lawyers, police, jail authorities, doctors and other relevant departments in speeding up disposal of cases.

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 and civil 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 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.