PESHAWAR, March 11: The Peshawar district and sessions judge, Mr Hayat Ali Shah, has taken notice of delay in the submission of charge-sheets against three juvenile offenders and has summoned SHOs of three local police stations and the probation officer concerned.

The court ordered that the SHOs of Pishtakhara, Hasthnagri and Chamkani police station and the probation officer should appear before the court in person on March 24.

The judge, who has powers of a juvenile court, ordered that the parents of the three children should be traced and they should also appear on the next hearing.

The three juvenile offenders, Kashif, Rashid Mahmood and Raza Khan are charged in different cases of drug-pushing registered in the three police station. Kashif has been in prison since Oct 2003. The other two offenders have also been in prison for the last about three months.

The trial of these offenders has yet to commence as the challans (charge sheets) have not yet been produced against them by the investigation officers concerned.

It is learnt that when the three offenders were brought from prison by local police and produced before the court for extending their judicial custody, the judge took exception to this practice and refused to extend it.

Normally, before the submission of challans the accused are produced before the court concerned for extending their judicial custody after each 14 days. When the court inquired about parents of these offenders, the judge was informed that they could not be traced.

The court observed that under section 10 of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, it was the duty of the official in-charge of the police station to inform the guardian of a juvenile offender and the probation officer.

The judge observed that under the law the juvenile court had to conclude trial of a juvenile offender within four months after taking cognizance of an offence.

Mr Shah stated that complete challan of a case had to be produced within 14 days of the commission of the offence under the Criminal Procedure Code. However, he added that the officials concerned had yet to produce challans against these offenders which was a violation of the law.