Backlog of Court cases in Bahrain down by 16.5per cent

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

The annual backlog of cases across courts in Bahrain came down by 16.5 per cent last year, according to the Supreme Judicial Council. The council said this highlighted the increase in efficiency and efforts to take the judicial sector to new heights in Bahrain. While 73,517 civil cases were registered in Bahrain last year, the Criminal and Sharia courts together handled 60,970 cases.

In another development, the council revealed that 600 appeals were heard by the Court of Cassation last year with average duration for cases standing at four months. These achievements come within the framework of goals set by the Supreme Judicial Council in accordance with the strategy and initiatives it has adopted, said Abdullah Al Buainain, Vice-President of Supreme Judicial Council and President of the Court of Cassation yesterday.

“Reduction in the duration of case periods is a result of strenuous efforts made by the judges in their work and their sincere abilities and competencies that have effectively contributed in enhancing the capacity of courts at all levels.

” He also affirmed that the Supreme Judicial Council is moving forward in developing new litigation mechanisms, achieving prompt justice, preserving rights and freedoms by shortening the litigation period, speeding up the adjudication of cases, and raising the efficiency of procedures and the quality of judgments by promoting specialised  judges, developing the judicial performance evaluation system, and re-engineering and simplifying judicial procedures.

The Daily Tribune earlier reported that domestic violence in the Kingdom came down by 44 per cent last year compared to 2020, based on Public Prosecution annual statistics for the year 2021. The statistics also reveal that last year also saw a major decrease in many crimes committed across the country.

The drug crimes came down by 40pc while theft cases declined by 33.5pc. Covid rules violation cases were down by 32.6pc. The Public Prosecution last year registered 82,746 cases in which 1,137 cases were related to social media abuses.

The Public Prosecution highlighted that the jail terms of 3,741 inmates were commuted to alternate penalties on humanitarian grounds. The substitution of sentences of imprisonment with alternative sentences, follows a judicial process after reviewing the individual, social and economic circumstances of each case, following formal referral by the Verdicts Implementation Directorate of the Interior Ministry.

All cases were each considered carefully by the relevant judge, and all have had sentences of imprisonment replaced with various types of alternative penalties appropriate to the individual circumstances of each inmate and their case, according to Public Prosecution.

The Verdicts Implementation Directorate has always highlighted that the decree-law mentions alternative sentencing as an important tool in the rehabilitation of inmates and their reintegration into society.