Wrongful Prosecution a Miscarriage of Justice: Need for Procedural Reforms in Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to highlight the tendency of wrongful prosecution and incarceration prevalent in Pakistan. The research undertakes to evaluate the existing legal remedies for wrongful prosecution in Pakistan and emphasizes the need for an effective legislative framework to deal with the issue in hand. The instances of those being acquitted by the high court or Supreme Court after many years of imprisonment, facing a maliciously prosecuted case, are so frequent in our society. After spending the best years of their lives behind the high walls of the prison, they are left with the only remedy of filing a suit for wrongful prosecution which by no stretch of imagination be considered affordable or efficacious remedy. An effective response from the state to the victims of wrongful prosecution resulting miscarriage of justice is lacking in the criminal justice system of Pakistan, as it stands today.Moreover, there is no statutory or legal scheme articulating the state’s response on the issue. This explorative/theoretical piece of research documents the need for a legislative framework to provide relief to victims of wrongful prosecution, which will include an overview of international law on wrongful prosecution. The study eventually attempts to develop a sophisticated and insightful working framework of criminology of wrongful prosecution in Pakistan.