Delay in Criminal Trials and the Right to a Fair Trial in Pakistan

Abstract

ABSTRACT

One of the most persistent problems in the administration of justice in Pakistan is the delay in criminal proceedings. At the end of 2024 some 2.36 million cases were said to be pending before the country's courts, over four-fifths of them in the district judiciary. In the same year nearly three-quarters of the people held in Pakistan's prisons were unconvicted. The present article analyses the legal and institutional factors that contribute to the delay of criminal trials and their implications for the right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 10A of the Constitution. It uses doctrinal analysis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, special statutes and leading judgements of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and published pendency, disposal and prison data, to look at weaknesses in investigation and prosecution, adjournments and non-attendance of witnesses, forensic capacity, judicial vacancies and case management. Its central argument is that most delay is avoidable and serves no fair trial purpose, and that only part of the time criminal cases take is the necessary price of safeguards such as disclosure, cross-examination and proper testing of evidence. The article finds that Pakistani law addresses delay through bail but not through enforceable timeliness duties, that statutory deadlines without capacity have failed, and that lack of published data on trial length and adjournments is itself a serious barrier to reform. It proposes priority reforms in early case assessment, scheduling, digital case tracking, witness protection, forensic capacity and judicial performance monitoring.