LHC prohibits interviews of under-custody suspects in police stations
Pakistan
LHC Justice Ali Zia Bajwa heard the arguments on the petition of Wishal Shakir
LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – The Lahore High Court has put a ban on the interviews of suspects in police stations.
LHC's Justice Ali Zia Bajwa heard the arguments on the petition of Wishal Shakir.
Advocate General Punjab Amjad Parvez, Prosecutor General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah, Additional IG Special Branch, DIG Security and officers of Kasur police were present in court.
The Punjab advocate general submitted his response in court.
"Is it right to record videos of under-custody suspects and make them viral?" Justice Bajwa asked. The law officer responded that the act of recording videos of suspects for interviews is illegal under Article 14 of the constitution, which calls for the dignity and protection of citizens.
He said the chief minister took notice of the Kasur incident and formed a committee under the supervision of Additional IG Special Branch. The committee has completed its findings, he added.
The Additional IG Special Branch submitted an inquiry report in court.
Justice Zia asked about the result of that report. The police officer said the SHO and two constables were found to be guilty in the incident.
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The court also asked whether the SHO was present in the police station at the time of Kasur incident. The Additional IG responded in affirmative. The court noted nothing could be more insulting than that as under-custody suspects could not filmed by the media, calling it illegal.
Also, Justice Bajwa directed the advocate general to issue guidelines to police regarding the social media policy. Besides, he tasked additional IG Punjab to issue guidelines to the media regarding interviews.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah said prosecution in particular faced problems when such interviews and videos were recorded.
Justice Bajwa asked journalist Muhammad Ashfaq, president of Court Journalists Association, to come to the rostrum and explain how the interviews of suspects are conducted.
Ashfaq responded that police played a major role and most of these interviews were conducted by YouTube channels. He said most mainstream media channels did not conduct these kind of interviews.
