Federal Constitutional Court issues directions on the treatment of FIR records, police character certificates and employment rights of candidates acquitted in criminal cases.
ISLAMABAD: An FIR cannot, by itself, become a ground for disqualifying an individual from government employment, Justice Amin has observed, while emphasizing the employment rights of candidates who have been acquitted in criminal cases.
According to the reported court directions, authorities should not treat an FIR as a permanent obstacle to securing a government job, particularly when the individual has been acquitted by a court.
The Federal Constitutional Court has also directed that police character certificates should not reflect a negative record against individuals following their acquittal.
The directions address concerns surrounding the use of police records during government recruitment and the potential consequences faced by candidates who were once named in criminal cases but subsequently cleared by the courts.
The court further instructed the relevant authorities that no candidate should be dismissed from employment without first being given an opportunity to explain their position.
The observation highlights the distinction between being named in a first information report (FIR) and being convicted of a criminal offence. An FIR records information about an alleged offence and does not, on its own, establish a person’s guilt.
Similarly, acquittal means that a person has been cleared of the charges in the relevant criminal proceedings. The court’s directions emphasize that such individuals should not automatically face adverse treatment in employment matters because of their previous involvement in a criminal case.
The instructions also underline the importance of giving candidates a fair hearing before taking decisions that could affect their employment prospects.
By addressing police character certificates, recruitment decisions and procedural fairness, the court has outlined safeguards concerning the treatment of individuals who have been acquitted.
The directions are particularly relevant to government recruitment authorities and officials responsible for examining applicants’ backgrounds and making employment-related decisions.
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