LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday restrained police from maintaining “criminal record” of underage drivers and detaining them in the lockups.

Justice Ali Zia Bajwa was hearing a petition by a lawyer against police for detaining youngsters arrested for underage driving in lockups and maintaining their criminal record.

The lawyer argued that the police could not keep minors in the lockups under the law. He said there had been reports and videos showing young boys detained in the police stations’ lockups.

He argued that keeping children in police custody would have negative effects on them.

He stated that the police were adding the names of the underage children to the criminal record by keeping them at the police stations.

He said despite assurances from the chief traffic officer (CTO) that the names of underage drivers will not be included in criminal record, they were still being registered with the Criminal Record Office (CRO).

The lawyer asked the court to issue an order against inclusion of the names of underage drivers in the criminal record.

Justice Bajwa ordered the police to refrain from including children’s name in the criminal record and keeping them in custody.

The judge directed the police to release the youngsters on personal surety instead of detaining them in lockups.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023