PESHAWAR, March 4: A juvenile offender was awarded 16-month imprisonment by a local court on a charge of drug pushing here on Monday.

The convict, Amjad, 12, son of Sultan of Parhoti, Mardan district, was arrested on Nov 6, 2000, and there was no noteworthy progress in his case till now.

As he was extended benefit of section 382-B of Criminal Procedure Code, his period of detention was counted in his sentence and he was released on Monday.

The convict pleaded guilty before the trial court presided over by additional district and sessions judge, Hussain Bahadur, because of the reason that if he had decided to stand trial he had to spend at least an year or two in prison, waiting for the conclusion of his trial.

Chairman, Voice of Prisoners, Free Legal Aid Cell, Noor Alam Khan appeared for Amjad and argued that he was a juvenile and should be treated in accordance with the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000.

He said that under section 83 of the Pakistan Penal Code it was up to the court to acquit a child below 12 years of age on the ground of insufficient maturity.

Interestingly, the challan of the case was submitted to the present trial court, whereas the prison officials used to produce the convict before the court of another district and sessions judge, Shehbar Khan, to get extension in his judicial custody.

During the last hearing when the boy was produced before the court of Shehbar Khan, he refused to further extend his judicial custody on the ground that he was a minor and could not be treated in such a manner. He directed concerned staff to inform him about the progress made so far in his case.

On the next hearing, the presiding officer was informed that the challan of the case was already submitted before another court and erroneously they used to produce him before a different court.

It is learnt that the concerned trial court sent summons for the production of the boy to commence his trial, but due to negligence of concerned prison and court staff, he was never produced.

Finally, on the intervention of Mr Khan, he was produced before the trial court, which decided to award him a prison term equivalent to the period he had already undergone in detention.

The convict told Dawn that he was given some framed sceneries by a person in Hayatabad and was asked to take it to Haripur, for which he was promised some money in return. He said that the officials of Tatara police station stopped him in Hayatabad and on search they found that charas was concealed in the frames.

Amjid said that he was not aware of the presence of contraband in the frames.

About why he confessed before the trial court, he said that he was not aware of legal technicalities and the only thing he knew was that his confession would help him in getting out of prison otherwise he had to stay there for more time.

Contrary to the provisions of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, the child was brought to the court hand-cuffed.

A police officer, who brought prisoners from prison, on inquiry said they were not aware of any such ordinance and they brought juvenile offenders hand-cuffed due to fear that they might try to escape.