The government of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province by population, has signaled legal action against those who filed false cases.
This came to light when a high-level meeting chaired by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat reported that 26 per cent cases were registered as fake last year.
To which Law Minister Raja Basharat said, “This is a matter of concern. If such a large number of false FIRs are being registered, then the law should be enacted and action should be taken against those who made false FIRs.
Following the directive of the Law Minister, his department has sent a summary to the Cabinet Committee which has formulated a mechanism to take coordinated legal action against those who have registered fake cases.
According to a spokesman for the Law Department, "Since Pakistan is a federal matter, we cannot change it." This means that the penalty for making a false application is only six months. But now the department has decided that with the addition of provisions such as perjury before the court, distortion of facts, etc., these sentences can be extended up to three years. It's just a matter of simplifying the process. "
Aftab Bajwa, former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, believes that fake cases have slowed down the justice process.
"Our law only has section 182 of the Criminal Code which is used to take action against the person who made the wrong FIR. It is not even punishable. That is, if someone has filed a false case of murder against you and it has been proved to be false, then the person who filed the false case can be sentenced to a maximum of six months, while the punishment for the false case filed by him. There could have been death. '
He said that former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Asif Saeed Khosa had made very strong decisions and ordered stern action against those who had fabricated witnesses and made FIRs. Now the provinces are doing something on their own, but I think it's a federal issue. Penalties should be amended in Pakistan and separate laws and penalties should be set for false FIRs, which would reduce the burden of half the cases from the country.
Why do people make false FIRs?
Former Sessions Judge Abid Qureshi believes that this is not a simple question. There can be many types of false FIRs. In the recent decisions of the Supreme Court, these FIRs have been scrutinized. In which more people of his opponents were deliberately involved. There is a tendency among our people that when they are harmed, they include the innocent people of their opponents. Which makes their case worse. In the eyes of the law, innocence is innocence, no matter how great an enemy you may be.
"I can tell you from my experience that now that an FIR has been lodged, it has become easier than before," he said. And there's pressure from the media and social media for years. The first question is that the case has not been registered. This has made the process easier for the police. It used to be extremely difficult when people would go to great lengths to file an FR, now it's just as easy. So a large number of people are taking unfair advantage of it.
