Court declares fees charged for filling P3 forms illegal

Victims of violence will not pay levies in police stations to have their P3 forms filled.

In a landmark ruling yesterday, the Embu High Court termed the levies charged in police stations as illegal.

Justice Florence Muchemi, noted that the Constitution does not provide for charging of filling of P3 forms which are issued by the police.

"No policy or statutes purports that victims of violence seeking medical treatment pay for the filling of P3 forms," she stated.

She was delivering a judgment in a case in which the Legal Resources Foundation Trust had sued the Health ministry challenging the constitutionality of P3 form charges.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

The Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police had been cited as second and third respondents in the civil suit.

Through lawyer, David Njoroge, the trust argued that victims of violence, especially sexual assault, could not afford to pay for levies charged and their cases end up being thrown out due to lack of evidence.

Justice Muchemi agreed with the trust that many poor survivors of violence do not access justice because they are unable to raise levies demanded to fill P3 forms.

She noted that a survey conducted in Embu, Kiambu, Nakuru and Mombasa indicated that cases of victims of domestic violence were either withdrawn or thrown out because their P3 forms which form part of the evidence had not been filled.