CRIMINAL LAW OF PAKISTAN: THE FACET OF TIME LIMITATION

Abstract

Criminal law serves as the bedrock of any legal system, defining the boundaries of acceptable conduct, prescribing penalties for transgressions, and safeguarding the societal order. In Pakistan, a nation with a rich legal history shaped by a blend of Islamic principles and British legal traditions, criminal law plays a pivotal role in upholding justice and ensuring the protection of individuals and communities. One nuanced aspect that intricately intersects with the administration of criminal justice in Pakistan is the facet of time limitation. The "statute of limitations" in criminal cases is the deadline beyond which a complaint/FIR cannot be filed, a defendant cannot be prosecuted, a punishment cannot be given, or the sentence cannot be carried out. As a result, there are three types of statute of limitations under criminal law: prosecution, complaint, and punishment. For crimes of the first through third degrees, the statute of limitations is fifteen years; for crimes of the fourth degree, it is ten years; for crimes of the fifth and sixth degrees, it is five and seven years; and for crimes of the eighth degree, it is three years. There are no more criminal consequences for the lawsuit or conduct after these deadlines. A victim of a crime loses the right to register a complaint if he does not do so within a year of learning about the offense unless the defendant controlled him or stops him from filing for other reasons. In this case, the date of eliminating the relevant reason will be used to establish the deadline. As we all know Pakistan’s legal system inherits a historical amalgamation of Islamic jurisprudence and British legal doctrines. The foundations of its criminal law were laid during the colonial era when the British introduced a legal framework that amalgamated elements of English common law. This historical context significantly influences the current legal landscape, and it is one of the reasons that we do not have statutes of limitation in criminal proceedings because English themselves did not have any statutes of limitation applied to criminal trials at that time and they believed that the time never run against the king. This chapter tries to find out how the absence of statutes of limitation affects the criminal justice of Pakistan. And deeply analyze the process of criminal trial and the effect of time/ passage of time in every step of criminal litigation, from the registration of F.I.R. to the execution of sentence with the help of case studies.

Keywords: Criminal law , Pakistan, Limitation , Justice , Case Studies