A delegation of under training assistant superintendents of police (ASPs), currently undergoing training at the Federal Judicial Academy, Islamabad under “Professional Exchange Programme”, called on Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed welcomed the delegation and gave them an overview of the criminal justice system in Pakistan. Deliberating upon the role of police in criminal justice system, his lordship said that police department is an important pillar of the criminal justice system. The responsibility of investigation lies with the police, but unfortunately around 90% criminals are acquitted on account of faulty, defective investigation and improper or insufficient evidence. The quality of evidence matters in an investigation. He further told the participants that judgment authored by his lordship in Criminal Petition No.419/2020 titled as “Sadam Hussain Vs, The State through AG Islamabad and another” on 12.05.2020, it was held that “Investigation of crime is specialized subject in which the investigation officers are required to be fully trained and equipped and in this regard police training centre should services of qualified professionals for imparting professional training to the investigation officers. A handbook of the crime investigation, based upon previous experiences, illustrations, practical applications and case law developed by the superior courts of Pakistan should be prepared immediately with knowledge of using investigation kits and preparing a computerized data of the crime”.
He expected from the trainee officers to apply their mind in investigation of cases rather than applying mechanical approach. He also answered the questions of the participants in an interactive session and shared his experiences.
Prior to this, DG and Director Federal Judicial Academy briefed the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan about the training being imparted to the ASPs/UT at FJA. They thanked the Chief Justice of Pakistan and presented souvenir.
