By Ebinum Samuel
The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu rtd mni, has called for a review/ammendment of the criminal justice system administration in Nigeria so that victims of crime are no longer treated as mere witnesses when they are injured.He appealed for an urgent need for rebalancing of the justice rights for victims of crime insisting that “justice be rebalanced to ensure that victims of crime are treated with dignity, compassion and justice”.Ikechukwuu Ani, the Commission image maker disclosed that Argungu spoke today at the Review and Validation Workshop on the Draft Toolkit for Enhancing the Capacity of Police Oversight Bodies organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held in Abuja.
The PSC Chairman noted that today, victims suffer pain, shock, humiliation, loss of control and powerlessness at the hands of their offenders adding that ” if victims are injured and the offenders cannot pay reparation, it should be their right to be afforded compensations from the state/Federal government.”
it should be their right to participate in the criminal court process with legal representation to protect their safety”.DIG Argungu also told his audience that in tackling human rights violations, the Commission “is going to pay much attention to complaints pertaining to human rights violations and in the area of abuse of law enforcement powers, particularly those of arrest, detention, interrogation as well as general treatment of suspects.”
He declared that the jurisdiction of the Police “in the area of public wrongs not private wrongs will be upheld” adding that civil matters and tortuous liabilities belong in the court. “Issues of land matters, rent matters, marital, contractual agreements issues are purely civil matters and the complainants should be advised to go for civil suits” he advised.