Justice of Peace

[22. Appointment of Justices of the Peace. The Provincial Government may, by notification in the
official Gazette, appoint for such period as may be specified in the notification, and subject to such rules as
may be made by it any person who is a citizen of Pakistan and as to whose integrity and suitability it is
satisfied, to be a Justice of the Peace for a local area to be specified in the notification, and more than one
Justice of the Peace may be appointed for the same local area.

22-A. Powers of Justice of the Peace. (1) A Justice of the Peace for any local area shall, for the purpose of
making an arrest, have within such area all the powers of a Police Officer referred to in section 54 and an
officer in-charge of a police-station referred to in section 55.
(2) A Justice of the Peace making an arrest in exercise of any powers under subsection (1) shall, forthwith,
take or cause to be taken the person arrested before the officer in-charge of the nearest police-station and

furnish such officer with a report as to the circumstances of the arrest and such officer shall thereupon re-
arrest the person.

(3) A Justice of the Peace for any local area shall have powers, within such area, to call upon any member
of the police force on duty to aid him:
(a) in taking or preventing the escape of any person who has participated in the commission of any
cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has
been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having so participated; and
(b) in the prevention of crime in general and, in particular, in the prevention of a breach of the peace or a
disturbance of the public tranquillity.
(4) Where a member of the police force on duty has been called upon to render aid under subsection (3),
such call shall be deemed to have been made by a competent authority.
(5) A Justice of the Peace for any local area may, in accordance with such rules as may be made by the
Provincial Government:
(a) issue a certificate as to the identity of any person residing within such area, or
(b) verify any document brought before him by any such person, or
(c) attest any such document required by or under any law for the time being in force to be attested by a
Magistrate, and until the contrary is proved, any certificate so issued shall be presumed to be correct and
any document so verified shall be deemed to be duly verified, and any document so attested shall be
deemed to have been as fully attested as if he had been a Magistrate.
22-B. Duties of Justices of the Peace. Subject to such rules as may be made by the Provincial
Government, every Justice of the peace for any local area shall,
(a) on receipt of information of the occurrence of any incident involving a breach of the peace, or of the
commission of any offence within such local area, forthwith make inquiries into the matter and report in

writing the result of his inquiries to the nearest Magistrate and to officer in charge of the nearest police-
station.

(b) if the offence referred to in clause (a) is a cognizable offence, also prevent the removal of any thing
from, or the interference in any way with, the place of occurrence of the offence;
(c) when so required in writing by a police-officer making an investigation under Chapter XIV in respect
of any offence committed within such local area.
(i) render all assistance to the police-officer making such an investigation.

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