PESHAWAR, March 20: Speakers at a one-day consultative meeting urged the police department on Thursday to create awareness among its officials about the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance so that the law could be properly implemented.

The meeting was jointly organized by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) and the Child Rights Committee, Abbottabad, to discuss the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 and the role of police at the District Bar Club, Abbottabad, on Thursday, says a press release issued here.

The consultative meeting was attended by all the Station House Officers, Moharars and assistant Moharars of the district along with the DSP (prosecution branch) and SSP Abbottabad Syed Feroz Shah.

Sparc's Deputy National Coordinator Arshad Mehmood briefed the police officials about the child rights situation and the juvenile justice system in the country.

He said there had been no uniform juvenile justice system at the federal level before the introduction of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.

Mr Mehmood said the police had been assigned an important role in the juvenile justice ordinance. Under the ordinance, police had to inform parents or guardians soon after the arrest of a child, he added.

Police were also required to inform the probation officer, so that the officer could prepare a Social Investigation Report (SIR) and present it to the court. Age of the child had been increased to 18 years under the juvenile justice law, Mr Mahmood added.

Police usually did not inform guardians or the probation officer and took considerable time in completing a chargesheet. Writing correct age of the child in the FIR was also very important, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, SSP Feroz Shah said many new information had come to light at the meeting. "We were not aware of the fact that the child's age has been increased to 18 years particularly in case of girls. Likewise, we were also not aware about informing the probation officer or the role of the probation officer under the ordinance."

In future, the Abbottabad police would maintain a close coordination with the probation officer and would be careful in registering the age in the FIRs, said Mr Shah.

Probation Officer of Abbottabad Dilawar Shah said he visited different police stations of Abbottabad and found that there was a lack of awareness about the juvenile justice ordinance.

A local MPA Nisar Safdar told the meeting that the government was fully determined to implement the juvenile justice ordinance. He asked SHOs to deal children's cases themselves and not to leave them to lower staff.