KARACHI, Nov 26: Representatives of the judiciary, police and civil society on Saturday called on the government to set up special courts for underage inmates and implement the juvenile laws.

Speaking at a consultative meeting on the State of Probation and Juvenile Justice System in Sindh, they also made recommendations for proper budgetary allocations for the juvenile justice system; appointment of probation and parole officers, including at least one female probation officer for each divisional headquarters; formation of a panel of lawyers in every district to plead cases of children; and adoption of the rules for the Sindh Children Act, 1955.

The event was jointly organised by the Sindh home department’s directorate of reclamation and probation and the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc).

Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court Justice Mushir Alam said the scarce use of existing laws on juvenile justice was due to its poor implementation.

“It is the duty of the state to implement the laws,” he said, adding that being the custodian of the constitution, it was also the judiciary’s responsibility to ensure fundamental rights to all and implementation of laws in letter and spirit and it was striving hard for the purpose.

He added that children were our future and it was up to us to make them a productive part of society or to leave them to become criminals. But we cannot let a large number of street children follow the path of crimes, the chief justice said.

“It’s the right time to act,” Justice Alam said and called upon all stakeholders, including the judiciary, civil society and the home, labour, prison and social welfare departments to come forward and play their due role in this regard.

Referring to the complaints about financial constraints earlier made by some speakers, the chief justice said that resources were available and what was needed was the will to use them.

Also, various non-governmental organisations were keen to assist the welfare programmes, he added.

The stakeholders should collectively work for the betterment of the juvenile justice system, he said.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court said the laws were in place but the real issue was related to their implementation and resources. The government must address both, he added.

The Sindh High Court had taken up the matter regarding poor conditions and facilities in prisons and upon the court’s directive the government made commitments to release funds for the propose, he said.

However, he said, it was deplorable that the jail authorities were corresponding with the home department only through the courts, which was negligence on the part of jail officials.He was of the opinion that around 80 per cent of street children became criminals and it was the need of hour to tackle this issue.

Director-General of the Sindh Judicial Academy retired Justice Saleem Akthar said that effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000 and other related laws could be an effective tool in reducing the number of children in prisons.

Political will on the part of the government was needed to enforce such laws, he added.

He said the Sindh Judicial Academy would provide training to the newly-recruited probation and parole officers in order to enable them to effectively play their role in the criminal justice system for children.

Retired Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid was of the opinion that Sindh had some progressive laws on the subject and the judiciary was also well aware of those laws, but reiterated that the real issue was proper implementation of the laws.

Financial constraints also were an issue in the implementation of the laws as nobody could do anything without money, he said. But the juvenile justice system could not be successful until the priority was not given by the government, he added.

He also highlighted some issues being faced by female prisoners.

A district and sessions judge in Hyderabad, Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui, said detention must be the last resort and the options of diversion (police), bail, diversion (court) and probation be used for juvenile offenders.

He also highlighted the court considerations about age, social background, addiction to drugs or tobacco and standard of evidence against an underage accused and various legal aspects related to probation and juvenile offenders and the role of the judiciary.

Youthful offenders’ schools Inspector-General of prisons Ghulam Qadir Thebo informed the participants of the meeting about the status of juvenile prisons in Sindh and claimed that it was better than those of underage prisoners in the other provinces.

He stated that there were four youthful offenders’ schools in the province for children under the age of 18 years and separate wards were set up in prisons for the inmates over that age. Two more youthful offenders’ schools were also being established, he added.

The special secretary for home, Zahid Memon, said the reclamation & probation directorate was running under the administrative control of the home department and its main object was to reform the first and chance offenders through parole and probation schemes and also deter the offenders from committing crimes in future and their rehabilitation.

He added that 20 probation and 22 parole officers had recently been inducted through the Sindh Public Service Commission.

Executive director of Sparc Arshad Mahmood said Pakistan was the first among Muslim and sixth country in the world that signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on Nov 12, 1990 following which the federal and provincial governments introduced various laws, including the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO), 2000.

According to Section 3 of the JJSO, every child who is accused of the commission of an offence or is a victim of an offence shall have the right of legal assistance at the expense of the state, he said. However, he added, a few children had been provided this aid because of no budgetary allocation for the purpose.

He requested the Sindh High Court chief justice to direct the authorities concerned to make budgetary allocation in this regard and establish exclusive juvenile courts in Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.

DIG Abdul Khaliq Sheikh said the shortage of probation officers was being fulfilled. The newly-recruited probation and parole officers were going through the training process and likely to report within a few days.

Specialised cells He said that instead of police, human rights desks or specialised cells be set up at the district level to handle the cases of juvenile.

He admitted that various agencies and police were violating the laws related to juvenile and highlighted the need for awareness among police officials in this regard, establishment of juvenile courts, provision of free legal aid and funding to improve the juvenile justice system.

At the end of the consultative meeting, recommendations were made to improve the probation and juvenile justice system in the province and it was agreed that a proper follow-up for the implementation of the recommendations would be made under the guidance of the Sindh Judicial Academy.