PESHAWAR, July 21: Contrary to the rules notified by the provincial government for dealing with juvenile offenders, female juvenile prisoners have been kept at different prisons in the province.

The provincial government has prohibited keeping of minor female offenders in prison or police stations and directed that they should be sent to borstal institutions to be lodged in separate enclosures. The Juvenile Justice System (JJS) Rules were notified by the government on May 9 under section 15 of the JJS Ordinance, 2000. The government also elaborated certain points in the rules which had not been fully explained in the ordinance. However, various provisions of the ordinance and rules are yet to be implemented by the provincial government.

Under the rules, the government has to establish borstal institutions for juvenile offenders in each district of the province. However, in the NWFP there was not a single borstal institution for child offenders. The juvenile section at Haripur Prison has been treated as borstal institution, but lawyers dealing with cases of juveniles claimed that the section was not up to the mark.

The child offenders have to be kept separate during the night, but no such step has been taken to establish separate cells for them, as required under the law.

A local lawyer claimed that under the same rules the government must appoint a panel of lawyers so that they appear in court on behalf of the child offenders.