Why was the confession of the alleged accused released in haste and what is its legal status?

The firing on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan's container during the long march has raised questions about the security and law and order situation in the country. Concern is also being expressed.

 A case of this incident has not been registered yet, nor has the police issued any formal statement in this regard. But several videos of the alleged accused Naveed Ahmed from inside the Kanjah police station in Gujarat have surfaced in which he is confessing to the attack on Imran Khan and giving reasons for it.

After these videos came to light, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi took 'strict notice' and suspended the entire staff of the concerned police station.

 Chief Minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi has directed the IG Punjab Police to form a high-level JIT in which the counter-terrorism department will also be included "so that the motives behind the incident can be examined."

It may be recalled that on Thursday, when the container of Tehreek-e-Insaf's long march arrived at Allahwala Chowk in Wazirabad, Punjab, there was a sudden firing, as a result of which former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other PTI leaders were injured. While one person died.

 According to the senior leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaf, the condition of Imran Khan and the injured PTI leaders is out of danger.

After several videos of the confession of Naveed Ahmed, who is in police custody, have come out, there is a debate on social media that what is the status of this confession?  Why did the police release the confession in such haste and what impact will the confession have on the investigation of the incident?

Commenting on the same, social media user Sana Jamal tweeted that 'Why was the confession of the accused released in such a hurry in such an important and high-profile case?  Who issued this statement and why is the government trying to validate a vague statement without an investigation?'

While a user named Samar Zulfiqar wrote that "Investigation regarding this incident should be started with the Punjab Police who recorded this confession." Who asked him to record this confession and release it to the media?'

Former General Amjad Shoaib, an expert on security affairs, also raised similar questions by tweeting, "What is happening and how the statement of the shooter was released so quickly without investigation?"

What is the status of this type of confession?

Former Inspector General of Police of Punjab, Sarmad Saeed, while talking to BBC, said that the statement of the accused in police custody in any kind of case has no legal significance, but in fact, in high profile cases, it is tantamount to spoiling the investigation. Is.

He further said that usually in serious cases, even the identity of the accused is not revealed in the media because it is feared to affect the process of identification parade and it weakens the evidence in the court.

Former IG Police Punjab Sarmad Saeed said that the confession given before the magistrate has legal significance and it is recorded when the accused is produced before the magistrate after police investigation.

It should be noted that in general, the accused or the accused in front of the magistrate retract the 'confession' statement given to the police by saying that they said all this because of violence or pressure, but in reality there is nothing like that.

Supreme Court Bar Association president and legal expert Ahsan Bhavan said that the confessional videos in this important incident have no legal status until they are forensically conducted and other reasons are established. And the factors should not be linked with it and the most important thing is that the accused admits this statement before the court.

He said that according to Pakistan's Evidence Act, a confession to the police is not considered admissible evidence (i.e. evidence that can be produced before a court or made part of the court record), unless the accused is brought before the court. I also admit it.

He further said that in such a big incident, under Section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the government has widened the scope of investigation by forming a JIT comprising senior officers of military and civil security agencies and institutions to investigate the incident. The motivations will be known.

Why were the confessions released so hastily?

Why were these video statements released so hastily? In response to this question, Ahsan Bhavan said that in our country, in such important cases, the police have to face political and unnecessary interference and it affects their investigation, same is the case in this case.

Former IG Police Punjab Sarmad Saeed said that in big and important cases, there are many kinds of pressure on the police and they are not allowed to do their work freely, due to which the police sometimes take such measures, i.e. the police Confession statements of the accused/accused are knowingly released to the media or social media.

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and legal expert Ahsan Bhawan said that after the advent of social media in the country, the way every person records every incident is the reason why videos of such confessions are released very quickly. They come.

He said that this is a very strange situation and who recorded it is a later matter and should be investigated. He says that the videos of this confession will be forensically examined.