ISLAMABAD - Senate Standing Commit­tee on Law and Justice Monday passed the Crimi­nal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021 moved by Minister for Law and Justice Dr Mu­hammad Farogh Naseem through a majority vote after due deliberations. The Senate body met here under the chairmanship of Senator Ali Zafar. The com­mittee discussed the Crimi­nal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and passed by a ma­jority vote. Discussing the bill, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar was of the view that in presence of capital pun­ishment there was no need to put offenders behind bars for remainder of their natural life as it would put unnecessary financial bur­den on national exchequer. Senator Musadiq Malik said it’s better to give of­fenders death sentence rather than keeping them in jails for rest of their life. Medical costs incurred due to comorbidities of aged inmates will be formida­ble paid through taxpayer money, he added. Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar argued that focus of the legislation should be to create a deterrent. He said certainty of the punish­ment was greater deter­rent than severity of the punishment. Flawed crimi­nal justice system should be amended in order to re­duce the number of under trial prisoners, he added. Replying to the questions raised by committee mem­bers Federal Minister Dr Muhammad Farogh Nas­eem argued that num­ber of offenders booked under this law would be very minimal and the cost would not be that substan­tial. Committee members also briefly discussing the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Bill 2021 sought time from the chair to fur­ther study the contents of the Bill and come up for discussion in the next com­mittee meeting. Standing committee deferred the deliberations on the bill and commented that this was very important leg­islation and it should be tabled in a matured form without too much delay. Committee meeting was attended by Senators Syed Shibli Faraz, Azam Khan Swati, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Kamran Murtaza, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Walid Iqbal, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Musadik Malik, Samina Mumtaz, Federal Minister for Law and Jus­tice Dr Muhammad farogh Naseem and senior offi­cials from the Ministry of Law and Justice.