Police officers walk past the Supreme Court of Pakistan building, in Islamabad, Pakistan April 6, 2022. REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court has directed the provincial and Islamabad police to ensure that no reference to caste, tribe, biradari, conversion status or any classificatory or derogatory expression is mentioned with the names of complainants, accused, victims or witnesses in FIRs, arrest memos, recovery memos, investigation reports, challans or any other documents.
During a criminal case, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Hasham Kakar warned that any departure from this rule would only be permitted if the investigating officer, for bona fide investigative reasons directly related to the offense and recorded in writing, believes that such identification is strictly necessary.
“The Registrar of this Court shall forward copies of this judgment to all Inspectors General of Police of all provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory and to the respective State Secretaries/Chief Commissioners for immediate compliance and dissemination to all field formations,” the six-page judgment written by Justice Kakar said.
“We are deeply disheartened that society continues to determine whether a human being deserves respect based solely on the nature of their profession, rather than their inherent dignity,” the ruling said.
The judgment notes that human dignity is not a privilege that can be granted; it is an inalienable right inherent to every individual by virtue of their humanity, as stipulated in Article 14 of the Constitution.
“It is to be noted that the terms bhangi, chura, morassi, jamadar, dam and musalli are no longer used to define a caste but rather are used as derogatory remarks against the members of that particular caste,” the judgment said.
“We are concerned about a society that depends on cleanliness to survive, but dehumanizes those who make it possible. Those who clean up society’s waste are described as “dirty”, and those who make cities livable are seen as lives that inherently deserve less respect.
The court said the moral failure of the social order itself is revealed by a system that dehumanizes individuals who earn their living performing sanitation or similar tasks, rather than by the filth of workers.
“Dignity, respect and equality are the rights of every person, regardless of their profession, in the eyes of the law and society. Pakistan’s international human rights obligations serve to reinforce this assertion,” the judgment said.
The court referred to Articles 1 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which require equality before the law and protection against discrimination based on religion or social origin.
The court said that the use of any qualifying expression that characterizes a convert as “new” or otherwise distinct is not sanctioned by either Islamic teachings or the law. “Any term which simply identifies the caste or social origin to which a person belongs and, in itself, is not fundamentally objectionable.”
He noted that these become objectionable when they are used to demean, stigmatize or present a person as belonging to a lower social status.
“The term ‘Nau Muslim Sheikh’ (or similar expressions such as ‘Dhobi’, ‘Naahi’, ‘Jamadar’, ‘Bhangi’ or ‘Dam’ which are sometimes used in police records) appears to be a derogatory or coded reference which implies stigmatized or lower caste status,” the court said.
