AT the heart of Punjab’s capital, a narrow lane stemming from the populous Lower Mall Road leads to a civil courthouse. The dilapidated building, with paint flaking off its walls, is swamped with men in black blazers who immediately take notice of a woman entering the premises.

The attorneys and their clients — all male — occupy corners of the building absorbed in conversation; their tones loud and aggressive as they prepare for another day of bail applications, appeals, petitions and delays. The security guard is fast asleep across the courtroom, his head resting against a wall inscribed with the words: “To Each His Own”.

Towers of folders spill into dusty corridors where passers-by squeeze sideways, making their way through stacks of case papers, stepping over recently placed campaign posters, now lying on the floor.

But things are different on the first floor. A hallway leads into a bright blue and yellow-painted corridor with paintings hung along the passage marking the entrance to the country’s first juvenile court.

The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 (JJSO) is the primary law underlying the conduct of juvenile justice in Pakistan which delineates separate and strengthened safeguards for juveniles below the age of 18 involved in criminal litigation with an aim to rehabilitate and reintegrate them back into society.

As per law, this first-of-its-kind special court will only cater to cases involving children under the age of 18 years, either as the accused, victims or witnesses. The recently-inaugurated court has two halls — a waiting area filled with toys, and a separate room where under-trial children will be counselled by a psychiatrist to minimise the traumatic deposition of facing a trial.

A psychiatrist will work here with a probation officer to offer counselling during trial, and focus on the psychoanalysis of accused children and come up with recommendations for judges to minimise the imprint of criminal activity on a culprit’s cognition.

An open-air corridor outside the courtroom is lined with white boards — placed there for children to express their feelings on while they await their turn for court proceedings. It is hoped that this will not only help children relieve stress, but also help the psychiatrist evaluate their mental state, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Akhtar Bhangoo, the child court judge, tells Dawn.

“This visionary step will provide a protective, confidence-inspiring atmosphere even for children as victims or witnesses,” he says, adding that the impact of colours on emotions, and books and toys was specifically taken into consideration in order to make the court child-friendly.

Another salient feature of the special court, says Mr Bhangoo, is a video-statement facility. In accordance with the JJSO, no direct contact of the child victim or witness is permitted during court proceedings.

“The child’s statement will be recorded via video link from the waiting area which will protect him from speaking under pressure in the presence of his offender in the courtroom,” the judge says, while pointing out that the law did not allow a juvenile case to be tried jointly with an adult. “The child court will take one case at a time and will try to finalise it as soon as possible,” he asserts.

Initially, 80 cases involving children have been transferred to the new court, with the first being registered a few days ago.

According to Barrister Umer Riaz Sheikh, even though children’s rights have been set out in the federally-applicable JJSO and other child protection laws, the juvenile justice system in Pakistan lacks implementation.

He tells Dawn that under the JJSO, children who came into conflict with the law should not be handcuffed, given corporal punishment, made to do labour or awarded the death sentence (Section 12). “The law states that legal and medical aid should be granted to a child under trial by the state and his identity should be protected,” he adds.

Based on Unicef estimates, almost 89 per cent of children charged with bailable offences are kept in prison primarily because of their inability to afford a lawyer. Lack of legal aid also means that juveniles are less likely to raise juvenility pleas during investigation and trial, and therefore, fall outside the ambit of the JJSO.

The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) in collaboration with Yale Law School and the Allard K Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic discovered 58 cases of torture of juveniles out of a sample of 1,867 medico-legal certificates.

Moreover, a report titled ‘Death Row’s Children — Pakistan’s Unlawful Executions of Juvenile Offenders’, prepared by the NGO, revealed that at least 10pc of the current death-row population comprised of 800 juvenile offenders. “According to Section 14 of the JJSO, the law does not repeal other laws but applies ‘in addition’ to them. To ensure that children aged below 18 years are not executed, the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 needs to be amended so that it cannot override the juvenile law,” says Advocate Obaidullah.

After almost 18 years following the promulgation of the JJSO, and only one juvenile court being set up so far, it is apparent that the legal provisions are yet to be fully implemented. The dignity of a child needs to be the first and foremost priority here, be it through the implementation of domestic or international laws.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2018