Medico Legal System/by T H Shah

Medico-Legal System in Pakistan By T H Shah Introduction Criminal Justice System (CJS) is designed to control crimes by arresting, prosecuting, convicting, and punishing those who disobey the laws. It revolves round legislature, police, prison and court. People rely upon CJS because the process of administration of justice and protection of human rights gets strength under CJS. Criminal Justice System can respond more sophisticatedly when all its elements work effectively and in the cases of sexual violence against women, the role of medico-legal system in CJS is of high importance. Women, who become victim of rape or any type of sexual violence, undergo CJS in their effort to seek redress. Role of medico-legal system Medico-legal system is important in the sense that medical evidence is vital to the investigation and prosecution of rape or sexual assault. Victim women who wish to pursue a charge against their assailant are usually examined by a doctor expert in forensic science, and obtain a medical report of their injuries. The validity of case is maintained by the report of forensic laboratory and therefore, it is central to the prosecution of the case. It is forensic evidence which proves or disproves a physical connection between individuals and objects, and its analysis requires specific or a specialized scientific skills and training. Due to delays in medico-legal process, the provision of justice faces complications and it opens up doors of corruption and also affecting the prosecution process. Problems of Medico-Legal System in Pakistan

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In Pakistan, medico-legal system is weak from many perspectives and this weakness is due to lack of forensic science laboratories in many cities, biased 1

attitude of police and doctors towards women, and lack of trainings for doctors assigned with medicolegal duties in rape and adultery/fornication cases focusing on medico-legal methodology and principles. •

Rape victim, in maximum cases, do not have access to medico-legal examination to be performed by the female practitioner. The situation becomes alarming on national holiday when there is no such staff present.

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In major cities of Pakistan like Lahore and Karachi, we lack sufficient numbers of medico-legal examinations centers. At present, at any given time, rape victims are examined at only one venue in each city, and this poses considerable logistical problems to victims who live far removed from the downtown districts.

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In major government hospitals, medico-legal doctor is unavailable and the growing number of rape crimes demands presence of such medical expert on twenty four hours.

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Deficiency of female medico-legal doctors in urban areas in general and rural areas in particular.

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The medico-legal examinations performed on women does not focus on the detecting the signs of nonconsensual sexual intercourse, as in many cases, the practice of checking the virginity status of women accused of Zina is continued. According to modern medical standards, the use of the condition of hymen to indicate recent sexual intercourse or virginity status in medically groundless.

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The medico-legal units in Pakistan links the police and hospitals is a serious continuing problem. The units are few and far between, the conditions for examination appalling and the attitudes of those in charge extremely insensitive and often hostile to women, especially victims of sexual abuse and/or domestic violence. They do not comply with standard procedures. As a result, legal redress

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for women victims of violence is difficult and they often end up further traumatized by the experience of examination. Recommendations

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Forensic science laboratories should be established in all the major cities of Pakistan;

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In all the rural health centers, medico-legal system should be established and female medico-legal doctors should be appointed;

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Involvement of police in medico-legal examinations should not be made prerequisite;

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Delay in conducting tests, and delivery of reports should be avoided;

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There should be proper arrangements for safe provision and retention of samples to be tested, because late untimely provision may produce unsatisfactory results;

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Manuals should be developed for doctors responsible for examining rape victims that outline the relevant laws for their work, review special medico-legal techniques and provide detailed descriptions of injuries specific to sexual assault in both adult and child victims;

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Similarly, standardized protocol

(The writer is associated with the PFP as Director Research. He could be contacted at:[email protected])

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