PESHAWAR, Sept 2: In violation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, a judicial magistrate on Monday fined three juvenile offenders for watching a movie inside a video centre.

Although the counsel for the three teenagers, all between 15 and 17 years of age, raised the point of their age, the magistrate, Safiullah Khan, fined them Rs1,000 each.

Under the law, only a juvenile court is empowered to deal with the cases of children below the age of 18 years. In Peshawar, only the district and sessions judge, Ziauddin Khattak, has been delegated the powers of a juvenile court.

An Banamari police official brought the boys to the court in handcuffs. When he was told that he was violating the law by producing the juvenile accused in the court in handcuffs, he expressed ignorance about the law.

“They are not our guests. They are accused and nobody has informed us to treat them leniently,” the police official said.

The three boys — Gul Akber, Noor Hussain and Sufaid Gul — were arrested on Sunday night at a video centre with the owner of the centre, Qazi Faisal. They were charged under section 18 of the Motion Picture Ordinance, 1979.

When they were produced before the court, the presiding officer did not notice the violation of law and instead fined them.

Last week, the court remanded two minor boys in police custody for two days. They were arrested in a theft case.

A local lawyer, dealing with cases of juvenile offenders, informed Dawn that most police officials were not aware about the provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance. He suggested that training courses be introduced for them.

Similarly, he added, the courts of judicial magistrates had also been overlooking the law and although they had no jurisdiction, they had been dealing with the cases of children below 18 years of age.

The lawyer said that under section 4(3) of the law, juvenile courts had the exclusive jurisdiction to deal with cases of children.

He proposed that the high court issue circulars to all the judicial officers across the province with the directives that they follow the law.