LAHORE: Civil society activists and lawyers on Friday demanded the implementation of the Juvenile Justice System by making juvenile justice committees functional for resolving minor and major nature of offences.
The Legal Awareness Watch (Law), Pakistan, with the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Lahore Bar Association conducted a media briefing and said that Juvenile Justice System Act was promulgated in May 2018 in Pakistan to fulfil its international duties arising under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children and General Comments No 24 to provide separate criminal justice for children who said to have infringed any penal law offering a scheme of rehabilitation to give them a second chance to become responsible individuals.
Law Director Sarmad Ali said children should be housed in observation homes during the investigation period , not more than 14 days, and in rehabilitation centres under the law to restore their normal life as it was before the incidence of breach of social harmony.
He added that neither federal nor provincial governments took any measure to ensure the non-disclosure of the identity of the children who come in conflict with the law as the Act 2018 demands the identity of the children who come in violation of the penal law to be protected at all levels. Journalists, police, and courts have to follow this stipulation.
Furthermore, the government at provincial levels with no further delay should notify rules of business under section 24 of the Act 2018, he added.
Mr Ali said the provincial governments, despite the lapse of four years, did not activate juvenile justice committees for resolving minor and major nature of offences under section 10 of the Act 2018.
He said having functional juvenile justice committees across Pakistan would release the burden of dependence of cases upon courts and allow restorative justice to flourish in the country. The age determination procedure should be done through scientifically in case no documentary evidence is available.
Moreover, the audience learned that probation officers should be provided with the necessary skills to handle the cases of children involving serious acts. Participants demanded that the children brought into the justice system in any violation of the law should neither be stigmatized nor treated as desperate or hardened even if they committed a serious violation of the law for the reason that “even a dangerous child is a victim”. According to section 6 of the law, no child in the custody of police should be handcuffed while moving from one place to another.
Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2022
