Liberty
of the subject is a sacred trust and nobody can be arrested or detained except
in accordance with law. Article 10 of the constitution of Pakistan 1973 has
provided safeguards to ensure that none is detained or arrested without any
just cause. This article is divided into two distinct parts. Clauses (1) and
(2) contemplate the case of persons who are arrested under the ordinary law.
Arrest
under ordinary law.----Here the constitution enjoins:
1.
No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed,
as soon as may not be of the grounds for such arrest nor shall be denied the
right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.
2.
Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before a
Magistrate within a period of twenty four hours of such arrest, excluding the
time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the
nearest magistrate, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the
said period without the authority of a Magistrate.
3.
Nothing in clauses (1) and (2) shall apply to any person who in arrested or
detained under any law providing for preventive detention.
Preventive
Detention
According
to clause (3), provisions contained in clauses (1) and (2) shall apply to any
person who is arrested and detained under any law relating to preventive
detention. In the case of a person arrested or detained under such law the
conditions laid down are:
1.
No law providing for preventive detention shall be made except to deal with
person acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, security or defense of
Pakistan or any part thereof, or external affairs of Pakistan, or public order,
or the maintenance of supplies or services, and no such law shall authorize the
detention of a person for a period exceeding three months unless the
appropriate review board has after affording him an opportunity of being heard
in person, reviewed his case and reported, before the expiration of the said
period, that there is, in its opinion, sufficient cause for the said period of
three months unless the appropriate review board has reviewed his case and
reported, before the expiration of each period of three months, that there is,
in its opinion, sufficient causes for such detention.
2.
When any person is detained in pursuance of an order made under any law
providing for preventive detention, the authority making the order shall as
soon as may be but not later than one week from such detention, communicate to
such person the grounds on which the order has been made, and shall afford him
the earliest opportunity of making a representation against the order:
Provided
that the authority making any such order may refuse to disclose facts which
such authority considers it to be against the public interest to disclose.
3.
The authority making the order shall furnish to the appropriate review board
all documents relevant to the case unless a certificate, signed by a secretary
to the government concerned, to the effect that it is not in the public
interest to furnish any documents is produced.
4.
within a period of twenty-four months commencing on the days of his first
detention is pursuance of an order made under law providing for preventive
detention, no person shall be detained in pursuance of any such order for more
than a total period of eight months in the case of a person detained for acting
in a manner prejudicial to public order and twelve months in any other case
Provided
that this clause shall not apply to any person who is employed by, or works
for, or acts on instructions received from, the enemy.
5.
The appropriate review board shall determine the place of detention of the
person detained and fix a reasonable subsistence allowance for his family.
Protection
against retrospective punishment
Article
12 of the constitution of Pakistan 1973 provided that no law shall authorize
the punishment of a person in the following cases:
i.
For an act or omission that was not punishable by law at the time of the act or
omission
ii. For
an offence by a penalty greater than or of a kind different from the penalty
prescribed by law for that offence at the time the offence was committed.
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