The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed police authorities across the provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory to ensure that no reference to caste, tribe, biradari, conversion status or any classificatory or derogatory expression is included with the names of complainants, accused persons, victims or witnesses in official criminal records.

 

The directions apply to First Information Reports (FIRs), arrest and recovery memos, investigation reports, challans and all other related documents prepared during criminal proceedings.

 

The order was issued during the hearing of a criminal case by a three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Hasham Kakar. The bench cautioned that any departure from the directive would be allowed only in limited circumstances where an investigating officer, for bona fide investigative reasons directly connected to the offence, believes such identification to be strictly necessary and records those reasons in writing.

 

In a six-page judgment authored by Justice Kakar, the court ordered the registrar to circulate copies of the decision to all Inspectors General of police in the provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory, as well as to the relevant home secretaries and chief commissioner, for immediate compliance and onward circulation to field formations.

 

“We are deeply disheartened to witness that society continues to determine whether a human being is deserving of respect based solely on the nature of their profession, rather than on their inherent dignity,” the judgment stated.

 

The judgment noted that terms such as “bhangi,” “chura,” “morassi,” “jamadar,” “dam,” and “musalli” are no longer used to describe a caste but are employed as derogatory remarks against members of particular social groups.

 

“We are apprehensive about a society that relies on cleanliness for survival, yet dehumanises those who make it possible,” the court said. It added that those who perform sanitation-related work are often labelled as “dirty,” while those who make cities liveable are treated as lives considered less deserving of respect.

 

The court held that such treatment reflects a moral failure of the social order, not the nature of the work performed, and stressed that dignity, respect and equality are rights of every person irrespective of occupation, in the eyes of law and society.

 

Referring to Pakistan’s international obligations, the court cited Articles 1 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which guarantee equality before the law and protection against discrimination based on religion or social origin.

 

The judgment also addressed references to religious conversion in police records, stating that the use of qualifying expressions marking a convert as “new” or otherwise distinct has no sanction in Islamic teachings or in law. It observed that terms identifying caste or social origin become objectionable when used to demean, stigmatise or portray a person as belonging to an inferior social status.

 

“The term ‘Nau Muslim Sheikh’ (or similar expressions such as ‘Dhobi’, ‘Naahi’, ‘Jamadar’, ‘Bhangi’ or ‘Dam’ which are occasionally used in police records) appears to be a derogatory or coded reference that implies a stigmatised or lower caste status,” the court said.