PESHAWAR, May 19: The NWFP government has ordered that a female juvenile offender should not be kept in a police lock-up or prison.

Through a notification, the provincial government has notified the Juvenile Justice System (JJS) Rules, 2002, directing that there should be separate enclosures for female juvenile prisoners in the concerned Borstal institutions.

It is said that in the absence of separate enclosures the female juvenile offender should be sent to care houses on the orders of the juvenile courts, but should not be kept in prison or lock-ups in any case.

The rules were notified by the Home Department on May 9, under Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, for meet the purposes of this ordinance.

Recently, the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court has also delegated powers of juvenile courts on district and sessions judges across the province. Under the law, the juvenile courts have the exclusive jurisdiction to deal with cases of juvenile offenders.

The provincial government has made it clear that it would be the responsibility of the government to provide legal assistance to juvenile offenders.

According to the rules, if the legal practitioner appearing for a juvenile is not competent the concerned juvenile court should appoint a competent lawyer for him or her at the expense of the state.

Moreover, the court will also constitute a penal of legal practitioners for the purpose of providing legal assistance to the juvenile offenders.

A practitioner will not be assigned more than two cases at a time. A lawyer appearing on the expenses of the government will be paid a fee of at least Rs5,000 but the fee will not exceed Rs10,000.

According to the Part 2 of the rules, it is the responsibility of the government to establish Borstal institutions in at least every district of the province as soon as possible for keeping juvenile offenders there. The child offenders will be provided education and training for their mental, moral and psychological development.

The rules envisage establishment of separate accommodation for the purpose of separation of the inmates at night. A juvenile offender has to be sent to the Borstal institutions on the order of a juvenile court. A juvenile prisoner has to be remain in the Borstal until he or she attains the age of 18 years or completes his or her prison term.

It is worth mentioning that the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance was promulgated on July 1, 2000, and since then different organizations have been asking the provincial government to set up juvenile courts and notify the rules so that the ordinance could be implemented.