KARACHI: Since top officials are appointed and other personnel recruited in the police department on the recommendations of politicians in power and influential bureaucrats, these law-enforcers deal with the general public as if they were above the law and not answerable to anyone but their patrons. Unless these recruitment are made strictly on a merit basis and law-enforcers’ mindset is changed, violence against women in police custody cannot be checked effectively.
These observations were made by speakers at a meeting held on Friday under the auspices of the Aurat Foundation to discuss the ‘Situation of custodial violence against women’.
The speakers said that being favourites of those at the helm of affairs, the police personnel felt that they could do whatever they wanted and escape action because of their connections.
Former Supreme Court judge Nasir Aslam Zahid was of the view that prolonged litigation without a time-frame for the disposal of cases itself was a kind of violence, and stressed that there should be legislation fixing a time-frame for the disposal of all sorts of cases.
He also deplored the 10 per cent or so conviction rate as ‘very low’ in Pakistan. He, however, welcomed the recently introduced judicial reforms which envisaged quick disposal of cases. In this regard, he quoted a district judge as telling him that he and his colleagues were deciding cases quickly. Justice Zahid said he asked him about the conviction rate and the answer was one per cent.
Pakistan has a population of around 180 million for whom there are only around 1,050 magistrates whereas in the United Kingdom, whose population is one third of Pakistan’s, there are 30,000 magistrates, according to Justice Zahid, who said that the difference between savagery and civilised society was the availability of an independent and fair judiciary practising transparency in trials.He said that about 4,000 ASIs and other policemen as well as 150 warders were recruited recently, and claimed that a large number of them were nominated by politicians. “Recruitment on political grounds plays havoc with the system and encourages corruption,” he remarked.
Sindh Women Development Minister Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto said there had been no case of sexual violence at women jails in Sindh in the recent past though some cases of violence of other nature had been reported from juvenile jails. She said a committee was at present looking into such issues, adding that stern action would be taken against the culprits if any of these reports proved to be correct.
About the women jails, she said inmates were being provided facilities like education, healthcare, vocational training, etc so that they could rehabilitate themselves in society after they were released. The government was making efforts to ensure more facilities for them, she said, and pointed out that a proposal to hear and dispose of the cases involving women on a priority basis was also under consideration.
Inspector-General of Prisons Kadir Thebo said the issue of custodial violence was a serious one and even more serious if it involved a woman victim. “Fortunately, the situation in Sindh jails is better than in the prisons of other provinces as no case of serious nature with regard to sexual violence against a woman inmate has been reported so far,” he said, adding that judges, NGOs, etc had occasionally been visiting prisons to ascertain the situation by themselves.
“The system in place is so strict and effective that even jail staffers feel threatened and are blackmailed by prisoners,” he claimed. In this context, he gave the example of the Hyderabad jail whose six staffers were sentenced by a magistrate on a complaint lodged against them by a prisoner.
The IG told the audience that there were 3,000 jail police personnel controlling over 14,000 hardened criminals in 22 jails of the province. “The staff strength is so insufficient that the jail police have to seek reinforcement from the regular police whenever a search operation has to be carried out to seize mobile phones and other contraband items from prisoners in Hyderabad jail,” he said.
Unaiza Niaz, a psychiatrist, emphasised prevention of all sorts of violence against inmates. She said: “Violence leaves deep scars on the personality of a victim and if violence is severe, the physical psychological damage done by it is even deeper.” She said that in developed countries, the concept of a prison had changed from a place of confinement to punish the guilty to a reformatory for offenders to transform them into noble citizens. She hoped that the concept would be adopted in Pakistan soon. She said custodial violence was a global phenomenon as such cases were reported in developed countries also.
A participant, who used to visit one of her male relatives kept in the Central Prison Karachi, shared her experiences with the audience telling them how she always managed to meet him by paying mandatory bribes to jail staffers.
Responding to her claims, IG Thebo said: “Some black sheep in the jail police are giving a bad name to the entire department.”
Mehnaz Rehman and Shirin Aijaz of the Aurat Foundation were among the others who also spoke.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/22/2010
