Police should not measure court decisions using their standards: Chief Justice

Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain has said that court decisions on cases should not be measured by the police using their own standards.

Faiz said this while speaking at the ceremony held in the Judicial Service Commission yesterday to appoint judges to five magistrate courts.

He said that decisions by the lower courts should not be measured by the police using their own standards and that if a case is not proven in a lower court, the Prosecutor General should consider taking further action.

“Decisions by the lower courts should not be measured by the police using their own standards. If a case is not proven in a lower court, the Prosecutor General should think about the next step. If it is a case that should be appealed, it should be appealed. But the police commenting on the case – this is not how this system works. The responsibility of the police is to carry out investigations. The Prosecutor must, during prosecutions, consider the evidence collected by the police. He would be the one to assess whether sufficient evidence exists. After that the judge will make a decision based on the evidence presented in court,” Faiz said.

The chief justice said that the judges made the decision based on evidence presented in court and since murder cases can result in death penalties, there can be no doubt surrounding a judge’s ruling on murder case.

He said that evidence presented before a judge will be assessed by the judge and that it is not the responsibility of anyone else to do so.

“…Judges always work in light of the evidence presented before them. A judge is like a referee in a football match. A referee’s intention isn’t ever to let a particular team win; rather, whichever team that puts in more effort comes out as the winner. The referee makes the judgement. The teams score goals. So the referee decides that the teams achieve the results, based on the teams’ efforts. Judges act in the same manner. Based on this rule, what a judge does is, make a judgement in light of the evidence presented by two opposing groups,” he said.

Faiz said that a judge cannot prove a case in court simply because a murder case is a serious case, and that the court gives sentences in accordance with the procedures of prosecution and based on the evidence presented before a judge.

“Considering the stories that have been going around, a judge cannot be held responsible for a certain party losing a case,” he said.

Recently, Commissioner of Police Abdullah Riyaz expressed concern when the Criminal Court acquitted the six suspects involved in the murder case of Ali Shifan of M. Fairy Corner.

Riyaz said that the police had carried out a thorough investigation on the murder and presented several forms of evidence including DNA evidence.

The court said in its ruling that that there were serious discrepancies between the statements provided by the witnesses during the investigation phase of the case and in court.