LAHORE: Punjab Police Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar has proposed a tech-enabled criminal justice system for enforcement across the country to address the chronicissues of security of undertrials through videolink testimony (VLT).

The IG presented an analysis of the enormously high annual expenses, totaling up to Rs1.2 billion, in Punjab under the head ofthe petrol, oil and lubricants (POL) alone for the transportation of the undertrials from prisons to the courts, in addition to Rs150 million annually being spent on the repair and maintenance of vehicles used for the purpose.

An official privy to the development says the IG floated the proposal during a recent visit to Islamabad, where he made an elaborate presentation before the chief justices of all high courts and the chief justice of Pakistan. The IG of Islamabad Capital Territory was also present.

In the presentation, the IG said the VLT allows the undertrials to participate in the court proceedings remotely via video conferencing, which can be particularly useful when the prisoner is in custody or unable to attend in person.

He argued that this method is becoming increasingly common and has several benefits, including costefficiency for the court as well as reduced logistical burden for the law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

He said a major technologydriven initiative could be introduced for building a robust, techenabled judicial system aligned with international best practices.

The integration of record/data of police, prosecution and prisons and the video-link testimony would help promote the rule of law and access to justice, he argued.

In the proposal (a copy available with Dawn), he also came up with a legal perspective of the issue.

Citing the verdicts of senior judges of the country and their judicial interpretations, he proposed that supportive material might be helpful for the adoption of technological tools in judicial proceedings.

The proposal also highlighted some 20 guidelines reported in a judgment of the Peshawar High Court on the VLT of the undertrials that may be followed to implement the tech-based mechanism.

It included a reference, in the context of Pakistani law, to Article 164of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, which deals with the admissibility of evidence obtained through modern devices and techniques.

The article allows the courts to consider the evidence, like CCTV footage, video calls, or other digital records, as valid if deemed appropriate, as per the proposal.

Dr Usman told the CJP and other top judges that as many as 7,500 police officials were performing judicial duties across Punjab to ensure physical testimony of the undertrials.

He said that the officials of the elite police force, Quick Response Force and other wings were deployed at the Supreme Court`s Lahore Registry, the Lahore High Court and its benches, besides the district and tehsil courts.

Similarly, he said, 520 official vehicles were providing transportation services to the undertrials, besides discharging other related assignments in Punjab daily.

The VLT may also address the serious issue of delay in presentation of undertials in the courts, often caused due to the law and order situation in parts of the province.

The congestion in the courtrooms during the appearance of multiple undertrials at a time has also been an issue the judicial officers had been facing, he said, adding that insome cases the non-production of the undertrials also hampered uninterrupted trialproceedings.

The IG also pointed out the armed attacks by the rival parties on the undertrials on the trial court premises in Punjab, often resulting in killings, terming it another source of trouble for both police officers and the judiciary itself.

He argued that the video link testimony may help save huge funds (Rs1.2bn and Rs150m) being spent annually for the purpose.

Additionally, the IG proposed the establishment of a dedicated transport and judicial security unit by sanctioning human resources for the security ofjudges andthe court premises.

He proposed a specialised training and career planning for the human resource of the judicial security unit, besides procurement of bulletproof vehicles for the judges` pool of the high courts.

He also shed light on the importance of the training of senior police officers at the Punjab Judicial Academy, adding that the judges may be requested to deliver special lectures at the National Police Academy.

Lastly, he said that the construction of the Integrated Criminal Justice Complex was a need of the hour, highlighting salient features of the proposed complex.