LAHORE, Aug 8: The Punjab Human Rights Commission recommended on Thursday that the district and sessions judges in the province should reconsider the cases of juveniles detained for possession of illicit weapons.

The recommendation was made in a meeting held here. Law Minister Rana Ejaz Ahmad Khan presided over the meeting. It was attended by Commission chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Nasim and members Pervez Inayat Malik, Saadia Khalid and advocate Mian Jamil Akhtar.

Advocate Akhtar expressed his concern over the detention of five children, including a 12-year-old, in Kasur jail on charges of possessing illicit weapons and called for their immediate release. The member informed the meeting that the Surrender of Illicit Arms Ordinance, 1991, had become redundant but people were still being detained under it. The police, he said, needed to be instructed not to register cases under this law.

The law minister directed the Lahore police to submit a report about the arrest of people by Ichhra police for dangerous motorcycle driving.

The meeting took a serious notice of the reports that jail authorities in the province were charging Rs10 per person from the visitors. It decided to seek a report from the Home Department about the accounts of the Prisoners’ Aid Society.

The Commission took notice of the payment of Rs1,800 a month by Fazal Flour Mills, Bhalwal, to its workers instead of the Rs2,500 per month minimum wage and directed the Labour Department secretary to investigate the matter and submit a report in 15 days. The meeting decided that the Commission members should visit hospitals, jails, police stations and the Lahore mental hospital to check the human rights conditions there. —Staff Reporter