PESHAWAR, March 3: The Peshawar District and Sessions Judge, Hayat Ali Shah, has expressed concern over the provincial governmnet’s non-provision of a panel of lawyers for juvenile offenders.

The judge observed that hundreds of juvenile accused were suffering from the lack of legal assistance.

It was learnt that the judge had, on Monday, sent a letter  to the Registrar of the Peshawar High Court, requesting him to ask the the provincial

government to fulfil its duty and provide this sessions division with a panel of lawyers to provide juvenile offenders with the legal assistance allowed by law.

It was stated in the letter that, “Under section 3 of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, it is the provincial government’s duty to provide legal assistance to juvenile offenders. However, the provincial government has not, so far, taken the responsibility of providing them with legal assistance in the form of a panel of lawyers at the court’s disposal to conduct the juvenile offender’s cases. Hundreds of juveniles are, therefore, suffering from the lack of legal assistance.”

Under the said law the provincial government has to establish separate juvenile courts. As the government had failed to establish separate courts, the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, last year, delegated powers of the juvenile court to all the district and sessions judges in the provinces. Later on, the same powers were delegated to additional district and sessions judges and judicial magistrates.

Most of the juvenile offenders were involved in crimes related to narcotics and most of the offenders are street children. In such cases they did not have resources to arrange for a counsel for themselves. In some of the cases here, the district and sessions judge has requested lawyers to provide legal assistance to juvenile offenders in their personal capacity, free of cost.