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Child Courts and JJSA 2018
About 39% of Pakistan’s population is under 18
The writer is a Barrister of Lincoln’s Inn and an advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan
About 39% of Pakistan’s population is under 18. Therefore, it is important to have special courts and mechanisms specifically for the needs of the country’s children. Child Courts, also known as Juvenile Courts and Child Protection Courts, have been established in Pakistan under the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA) 2018, to improve the juvenile justice system for children in conflict or in contact with the law and to provide them with child-sensitive and fair justice. The JJSA 2018 defines a child as a person under 18 years of age. However, the state has failed to protect children, pre-, during and post-trial due to shortfalls in the law’s implementation.
Daily Times
April 6, 2021
Despite the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018 (JJSA) being in practice, minors in recent times faced discrimination, and were subjected to violence at police stations, and behind prisons across Pakistan. The recent death of a 14-year-old child aroused strong condemnation. He was found dead in the police station of West Cantt-Peshawar and as excepted, policemen termed the incidence a suicide, while the relatives stated that their child was tortured to death.
Section 176 of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CRPC) of 1898 empowers the concerned Ilaqa Magistrate to hold judicial inquiries to find out the actual cause of death in custody of the police. Judicial inquiries for determination of actual cause of death in custody of police had been taken place on numerous occasions, however rarely do those inquiries hold police officials guilty of custodial death, due to the reason that they managed concealment of incriminating evidence against them or settled with the
Most child inmates still under trial
Only 71 Of 544 juvenile prisoners in Punjab serving sentence
PHOTO: AGENCIES
There are 544 juvenile prisoners in 42 jails across Punjab, including teenage girls.
Cases against 464 juvenile inmate are pending, while 71 children have been sentenced. Trials of all the incarcerated girls are still being heard. According to official data, Faisalabad Central Jail has the highest number of 74 children, followed by 70 in Bahawalpur District Jail, 69 in Lahore District Jail, 64 in Rawalpindi Central Jail and 45 in Gujranwala Central Jail.
The are 12 child prisoners in Kasur District Jail, 24 Sheikhupura, five in Sialkot, two each in Narowal and Attock, 17 in Okara, seven in Vehari, eight each in Gujrat and Jhang, 12 in Mandi Bahauddin, four each in Toba Tek Singh and Rahim Yar Khan, five in Sargodha, three each in Shahpur, Bhakkar, Jhelum and Layyah, 13 in Hafizabad, six in Lodhran, 19 in in Dera Ghazi Khan, 22 in Muzaffargarh and nine in Rajanpur Di
Custodial death of a child and juvenile justice system tribune.com.pk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribune.com.pk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.