CJP terms false testimony key flaw in criminal justice system

By Imran Ayub | 7/20/2019 12:00:00 AM

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa said on Friday that f alse testimony was one of the
key flaws in the criminal justice system which no longer would be acceptable, adding that since the apex
court had become strict about the issue, about 15 `eyewitnesses` of murder cases were being tried for
committing perjury in courts in different parts of the country.

Speaking on justice sector reforms at a ceremony at the Sindh police headquarters, Central Police Office,
he warned investigating officers that they could also face consequences if they knowingly brought false
witnesses before the courts as they couldbe tried as accomplices in perjury.

`Since we decided to take up this challenge, I think till now some 15 eyewitnesses of the murder cases
are being tried for committing perjury in the courts of law in different parts of Pakistan,` the chief justice
said. `The next step will be about those investigating officers who know that the witnesses are f alse.
Why do they put their names in challans as eyewitnesses? They share responsibility. They will be
prosecuted as the accomplices of such perjury and we will not spare them.

He called this part of his speech a `warning` for all the investigating of ficers in the country that
falsehood would not be tolerated.

Chief Justice Khosa was elaborating `two key flaws` in the criminal justice system: falsehood and delays.

`Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus: false in one respect, false in aH respects,` he quoted a Latin phrase to
reinforce his point of view. `So if a witness tells a lie in one respect then the entire testimony of the
witness will be discarded... We have changed the law.

We have given the judgements and very strong judgements. I fortunately was the author of these
judgements. Itmay take some time but once the message goes across that false testimony will not be
acceptable, it would serve in longer term.

Earlier, Chief Justice Khosa along with Justice Gulzar Ahmed chaired a meeting of the police reforms
committee at the Supreme Court`s Karachi registry. The police chiefs of the four provinces along with
retired IGs Afzal Shigri, Dr Shoaib Suddle, Tariq Parvez and Tariq Khosa attended the meeting.
`The secretary of the Law and Justice Commission presented progress of the public complaints redress
mechanism whereby more than 77,000 public complaints were attended by SPs complaints in all the
districts out of which more than 57,000 were redressed to the satisfaction of the complainants. The chief
justice expressed satisfaction and asked for more effective public awareness of the new system in place,`
said an official statement.

The meeting was told that the number of applications before the district courts against police had been
reduced by 11 per cent and that of petitions against the law-enforcement agency in the high courts had
come down by more than 20pc.

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