Law Ministry Proposes 650 Amendments In Criminal Law: Dr Farogh

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Sep, 2021 ) :Federal Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Dr Farogh Naseem Thursday said the ministry had proposed 650 amendments in the criminal law and forwarded to the Prime Minister Office.

He expressed these views while chairing the first meeting of the National Action Plan (NAP) Implementation Committee.

Dr Farogh Naseem said in February 2021, the prime minister asked him to draft a reforms package on criminal law.

He said it took 26 years in our neighboring country to draft laws pertaining to criminal reforms, but the ministry worked hard on this law and sent the first draft to the prime minister in June 2021 and about 650 amendments were proposed. These laws include the Code of Criminal Procedure, Pakistan Penal Code, Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, Control of Narcotics Act, Railways Act, The Pakistan Prisons Rules, Islamabad Capital Territory Criminal Prosecution Service and The Islamabad Capital Territory Forensic Science Agency Act.

Barrister Farogh Naseem said the most difficult task assigned to the law ministry with regard to NAP was to reform the criminal law, which the ministry had already done.

He said criminal law was technically a subject of interior ministry, but the law ministry had worked on it.

He said in November last year, the prime minister had asked him to make an anti-rape law which the ministry drafted and worked hard on it.

He said the anti-rape law was being praised. The Lahore High Court had praised this law and this law was also being praised by the European countries, he said and added the law had been passed by the National Assembly and would be presented in a joint session.

The minister said if this law was properly implemented, the incidents of rape would be reduced completely.

In this regard opinions were sought from provincial police, Islamabad Police, prosecutors general and prosecution departments, consultations were also held with lawyers, non governmental organisations, human rights lawyers, home secretaries of the provinces and representatives of the attorney general's office, all provincial secretaries for law and members of the advocate general's office of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were also consulted.

Relevant reports of the Law and Justice Commission were also scrutinized from 1981 while making these amendments. These amendments would introduce an efficient and expeditious procedure for filing first information reports and significantly reduce the number of pending cases, the time to pursue cases would be greatly reduced, police abuse with the public would be eradicated. These amendments would enable cases to be brought to a transparent conclusion, evidence gathering would be further improved and expedited modern tools would be used to deliver justice.

He said these amendments would be submitted to the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) in next two weeks.

The federal minister further said the substantial work to be done by this committee had already been done by the law ministry.

Barrister Farogh Naseem directed the Counter-Terrorism Department to provide details of counter terrorism related cases which were pending. He said we wanted to enact such legislation so that even the most powerful could not escape from the grip of the law and even the weakest class could get full justice.

He said this committee was very powerful and as a chairman he reiterated his commitment that he would discharge his responsibilities in the best possible and diligent manner.

Earlier, the interior ministry additional secretary apprised the committee that the law ministry was the first ministry to convene a meeting on the implementation of the NAP.

He said the prime minister approved the revised NAP and approved the formation of four implementation committees, one of which was headed by the law minister.

The meeting was attended by representatives of home departments of the provinces and senior officials of other departments concerned, Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Barrister Maleeka Ali Bokhari was also present in the meeting.