On SC order, Punjab Police directed to share with public details of its functioning

ISLAMABAD: Following an order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Punjab police has been directed to share details of its functioning, rights of complainants and detainees, procedure for registration of FIR and other information with public through an elaborate disclosure system.

Implementing the order of the Apex Court dated September 4, 2015, the Punjab Information Commission has notified the transparency standards and public records in respect of the Punjab Police Department.   

The 18-page document, a copy of which is available with The News, contains detailed guidelines for police to ensure transparency in its functioning and public access to information related to the department.

The department has been asked to share with public procedure for registering First Information Report (FIR), obtaining a copy of FIR, seeking updates on complaints/FIR and claiming property recovered by police.

The department also must display on its website and notice boards the rights of complainants and parties against whom allegations are leveled in relation to arrests, bails, recoveries, valuable of detainees and access to information. 

The Supreme court had ordered the commission to notify transparency standards for police within three months but the commission cited lack of staff for delay in implementing the order. “We regret the delay in implementation of the order, which is due to the fact that the Commission remains literally without staff since its establishment in March 2014.

Currently, there is only one Assistant Director posted at the Punjab Information Commission against the sanctioned strength of 43 staff members,” says the report issued by the Chief Information Commissioner on Tuesday June 7, 2016.

Under the notified 49-point standards police has been directed to widely publish rights and entitlements of detainees, especially women, children, elderly and the ones suffering from a disease or injury in terms of freedom from torture, or abuse, access to lawyer, access to medicines or health facility, access to food and drinking water and meeting with family members.

The police department has been directed to proactively disclose information about overall mandate of the department, description of its offices, relevant acts, details of budget allocation for each office, powers and function of officers through its website.

The commission had directed the police department to come up with bi-annual reports about the organisation and designate public information officer to respond to public queries under the Punjab Transparancy and Right to Information Act 2013.

“The Police Department shall submit bi-annual reports to the Punjab Information Commission about the status of implementation of proactive disclosure,” guidelines read. The commission also urged the department to provide maximum information in the Urdu language in order to ensure that most of the people can benefit from it.

“Information should be compiled and packaged in a manner that it is easy to understand. Legal or technical terminology must be avoided or explained in a manner that it is intelligible for common people,” the document reads.

The police department must regularly assess information needs of people/ communities and respond to those needs through notice boards, websites, notifications, help lines or publications.

The Website must offer maximum information in the Urdu language, and should be regularly updated. Notice boards must be setup at appropriate locations to share information with detainees, complainants and their visitors.

Information specific to a detainee must be shared with him or her in confidence and, where required, through a written notification. For reactive disclosure, the Police Department shall ensure designation of public information officer’s u/s 7 of the PT & RTI Act 2013 for supply of information to applicants within the stipulated time frame.

Talking to The News a member of the Punjab Information Commission said the the document which has the backing of the Supreme Court will make Punjab police more transparent and law abiding owing to public scrutiny.

"Rights of detainees and complainants are not widely known in our country which allows some police officials to misuse their authority. Increased awareness and transparency will  curb this practice," he said.