The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has announced that the proposals made at the ‘Bandhu Forum’ held Saturday to address issues related to pre-trial detention will be submitted to the relevant authorities following consultation with the judiciary.
According to PGO, the purpose of the forum was to review and revise the conditions of pre-trial detention, determine the rules and regulations to be followed and to introduce innovative changes to the system to improve it while protecting the rights of both accused individuals and society. In collaboration with all relevant agencies, the forum also identified problems faced by individual agencies regarding pre-trial detention and the solutions to these issues.
A key point of consensus among the participating agencies was that pre-trial detention is not the issue, but rather the indefinite prolongation of the trials for detainees.
The forum discussed extensively on the measures agencies can take to expedite criminal cases in the courts. They discussed the possibilities of increasing the number of video conferencing systems installed in institutions within the criminal justice system and implementing an online scheduling system for court hearings.
PGO said the first part of the forum involved discussions with institutions within the criminal justice system excluding the judiciary. The next part of the forum will involve consultations with the judiciary to share the forum’s findings and solutions. These recommendations will be submitted to the government and relevant agencies for implementation with the participation of the judiciary. The PGO will also continue to monitor the implementation of these measures.