PESHAWAR, Aug 3: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed all district and sessions judges to constitute a panel of lawyers for providing free legal aid to juvenile offenders in the province.

It is learnt that a letter has been sent to all district and sessions judges (DSJs) by the high court's registrar, Mr Saleem Khan Minakhel, in which the judges had been asked to apprise the high court about the constitution of the said panels.

The registrar stated that in case no panel of lawyers was constituted till now then the same should be constituted at the earliest. The letter states that under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, and the Juvenile Justice System Rules, 2002, it is binding on the courts to constitute the panel of legal practitioners to provide free assistance to juvenile offenders.

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) had raised this issue in the media and had also sent letters to the high court's chief justice for the constitution of the panel of practitioners.

The organisation pointed out that in various prisons the juvenile offenders were without legal assistance. Under Section 3 of the JJSO, every child who is accused of the commission of an offence or is a victim of an offence shall have the right of legal assistance at the expense of the State. A practitioner appointed by the State shall have at least five years standing at the Bar.

Similarly, under Rule 3(2) of the JJSR, a panel of legal practitioners shall be constituted by the sessions judge for the purpose of legal assistance at the expense of the State and no legal practitioner shall be appointed for more than two cases of juveniles at a time.

The rules envisage that the legal practitioner appointed to defend the case of a juvenile offender shall be entitled to receive a fee determined by the session judge subject to a minimum payment of Rs5,000 and shall not exceed Rs10,000.

The juvenile courts started functioning in the province in 2002 when the then chief justice Mian Shakirullah Jan delegated powers of juvenile courts to all district and sessions judges. Later on, the powers were also delegated to additional district and sessions judges. However, no separate juvenile courts have yet been constituted by the provincial government.