Islamabad
Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Senator Ali Zafar chaired the meeting of the Standing Committee held at Parliament House on Monday.
After due deliberations, the Senate Body passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021 moved by Senator Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem, Minister for Law and Justice with majority vote.
Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar was of the view that in presence of capital punishment there is no need to put offenders behind bars for remainder of their natural life as it will put unnecessary financial burden on national exchequer.
Senator Musadiq Malik said that it’s better to give offenders death sentence rather than keeping them in jails for rest of their life. Medical costs incurred due to comorbidities of aged inmates will be formidable paid through taxpayer money.
Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar argued that focus of the legislation should be to create a deterrent. He further said that certainty of the punishment is greater deterrent than severity of the punishment.
Flawed criminal justice system should be amended in order to reduce the number of under trial prisoners.
Replying to the questions raised by committee members Federal Minister Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem argued that number of offenders booked under this law will be very minimal and the cost will not be that substantial.
Committee members also briefly discussed the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Bill 2021.
Committee members sought time from the chair to further study the contents of the Bill and come up for discussion in the next committee meeting.
Standing committee deferred the deliberations on the bill and commented that this is very important legislation and it should be tabled in a matured form without too much delay.
Committee meeting was attended by Senators Syed Shibli Faraz, Azam Khan Swati, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Kamran Murtaza, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Walid Iqbal, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Musadik Malik, Samina Mumtaz, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem and senior officials from the Ministry of Law and Justice.—INP
