PESHAWAR, March 10: The indifference on the part of provincial government and judiciary has turned the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, a useless piece of legislation.

Despite the passage of about two years, since the ordinance was promulgated by the president, the provincial government has yet to notify rules for carrying out the purpose of the ordinance.

Moreover, the juvenile courts, which are a vital part of the ordinance, have not yet been set up by the provincial government and the high court, and there is no chance of setting these up in near future.

The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, was promulgated on July 1, 2000, amidst a lot of pomp and show with a claim that the government had been taking keen interest in providing justice to juvenile offenders. However, the law is only present in the statute books with little benefit extended to the juvenile offenders.

“At least in Peshawar a proper juvenile court should be set up as dozens of offenders have been languishing here in the central prison mostly under charges of drug trafficking,” said a child rights activist.

Under section 1 of the ordinance, the provincial government should, in consultation with the chief justice of high court, establish one or more juvenile courts for any local area within its jurisdiction.

Similarly, under section 2 the high court may confer powers of juvenile court on court of sessions or judicial magistrate of the First class.

The high court may also appoint from amongst practising advocates, having at least seven years standing at the bar, presiding officers of juvenile courts with powers of judicial magistrate of the First class.

The law envisages exclusive jurisdiction for juvenile courts to try cases in which a child is accused of commission of an offence.

The Chairman of the Voice of Prisoners, Free Legal Aid Cell, Noor Alam Khan, claimed that under the law no juvenile offender should be handcuffed, put in fetters or given any corporal punishment at any time in custody, but normally the child offenders were brought handcuffed to courts.

Another important provision, he added, about the establishment of Borstal institution had been ignored.

The juvenile offenders should be detained in the Borstal institution and given education and training for their mental, moral and psychological development.

The provincial government could not be blamed alone for the non-implementation of the ordinance, as the judiciary had also not taken interest in the establishment of the courts under the ordinance, Khan further said.