Daily Times

The Upper House of the parliament passed four bills on Monday, including the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment), Bill 2022 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The house also passed the Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Children (Pledging of Labour) (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Senator Irfan-ul-Haq Siddiqui moved the bill further to amend the Code Criminal Procedure, 1898.

According to statements of objects and reasons, he said that the Constitutions of Pakistan in Article 175 (3) says “The Judiciary shall be separated progressively from Executive within fourteen years from commencing day”.

The said Article guarantees independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Executive Branch of the Government. Originally, the Constitution provided a period of three years for the separation but later the period was enhanced to fourteen years through Constitutional amendments.

Yet there are certain provisions in the prevailing legal system compromising the spirit of the said Article, in which Special Judicial Magistrate are among them. The Special Judicial Magistrates being the executive are conferred with judicial power impedes the impartial administration of justice.

Amendments in various sections of Criminal Procedure Code seek to separate Judiciary from the Executive through substitution of the Special Judicial Magistrates with Judicial Magistrate Designated for the trail of petty offences in the Summary Courts.

Under the provision of section 14, and 14A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Special Judicial Magistrates being representative of the executive, were empowered to exercise judicial functions and conduct summary trials of minor offences which are in contravention of the contours of separation of judiciary from the executive as safeguarded in the Constitution of Pakistan. This bill achieves the above said purpose.

While the three bills moved by Senator Shahadat Awan were passed by the House. According to statement of objects and reasons, the bill “The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, Suicide is the act of killing oneself, most often as a result of depression or other mental illness.

The objective of the amendment of this amendment in Pakistan Penal Code is to decriminalize the suicide attempt by any person as it is always done with some depression or mental illness or disorder.

While, nine bills was introduced in the House and referred to relevant committees including The National Security Council (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Smart University of Sciences and Technology Bill, 2022, The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning illegal detention of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik by Indian Government.

Senate started its session with Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair. At the outset, the House offered fateha for the departed souls of those, martyred in various acts of terrorism in South Waziristan, Karachi and other parts of the country.

Newly elected senator from Sindh Nisar Khuhro took oath of his office.

The House expressing solidarity with Yasin Malik, strongly condemned the Indian Government, which is not providing the basic human rights to him.

The resolution moved by Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, asked the world community and human rights organizations to pressurize the Indian government not to infringe basic human rights of Yasin Malik.

The House ordered to send copies of the resolution to the whole world. Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the House Azam Nazeer Tarar said it is high time to send a message to the world community that Pakistani nation is united and stands behind the legal efforts of the Kashmiri leaders for their right to self-determination.

The House passed four bills which included the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Children (Pledging of Labour) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2022. The House has now been adjourned to meet again on today (Tuesday) at 10:30 in the morning.