PESHAWAR, April 12: The Peshawar High Court has transferred the criminal appeal of two boys, who are on death row, to the Federal Shariat Court, it is learnt on Saturday.

Mohammad Rafique and Sohail Fida had filed appeal after they were sentenced to death by a Qazi court in Swat on July 23, 2002, on the charge of killing a boy, Mohammad Zubair, on May 25, 2000. The prosecution claimed that the three were involved in a theft case during which they killed the boy.

A two-member bench took up the appeal for preliminary hearing a few days back. The bench observed that as the charge framed against the appellants by the trial court was under the Islamic law of Offence Against Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, therefore the appeal could only be heard by the Federal Shariat Court.

Under the FSC rules, the appeal has to be heard by a full bench. At present, the appeal could not be fixed for hearing as only two judges have been functioning at the FSC and the rest of the six posts of judges are lying vacant for the last two months.

One of the two judges, Justice Ijaz Yousaf, has been appointed acting chief justice of the court.

The appeal has triggered among legal circles a debate whether death penalty could be awarded to a juvenile offender when the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, has not been extended to the area where the offence has been committed.