Summary

The children of Pakistan are already a battered community and enjoy few rights, wrote SPARC’s Board. Thousands of children continue to languish in prisons, their hopes for a respite from the harsh realities of the adult world attached to the JJSO.

More Information

The SPARC (Society for the Protection of the Rights
of the Child) Board of Directors wrote to the President of Pakistan Mr
Pervaiz Musharraf, strongly urging his Government to urgently file an
appeal in the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the Lahore High Court
(LHC) judgment in relation to the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, and to
obtain an interim stay against the order until the final judgment is
pronounced by the Supreme Court. The same letter was also sent to the
Prime Minister, the Minister of Law and the Attorney General.

A full bench of the Lahore High Court on December 6 struck down the
federal Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, (JJSO) 2000, as unconstitutional,
unreasonable and impracticable because it contained such downright
absurdities as to create havoc in the country's criminal justice system.  The
court also ordered that all accused, who had been tried as juvenile
between the date of the promulgation of the ordinance (July 1, 2000) and
the announcement of the judgment (Dec 6, 2004), to prove their age at
the time of the commission of the offense to claim immunity from death
sentence.

The 15-section JJSO, which extended to the whole of Pakistan from July 1,
2000, provided that a “child” below 18 years of age could not be awarded
death penalty and was entitled to a separate trial by a juvenile court.
The judgment of the LHC said the ordinance encouraged and promoted
corruption and falsehood in society at a scale that was alarming. It also
had a tendency of gross misuse. Another anomaly in the ordinance, the
judgment held, was regarding the determination of the age of a juvenile.
The judgment also cited procedural difficulties that had permeated in the
trial of the juvenile in subordinate courts. It said that the ordinance was
also discriminatory against adult accused. It created a social imbalance
because of giving free hand to a certain section of society in the name of
the age. The prohibition of death for the child had resulted in rising
incidence of the younger people to commit heinous crimes like murders and
gang rape.

The Lahore High Court had declared the JJSO to be unconstitutional, and
re-opening settled issues, such as the definition of a child as being below
18 years of age. SPARC’s Board requested the Government to take an
urgent action by directing the relevant quarters to immediately file an
appeal against the orders of the Honorable Lahore High Court; and, in the
meantime, also obtain an interim stay to avoid confusion and save
thousands of children in the Punjab whose trials were pending in the
juvenile courts established under the JJSO.

SPARC’s Board wrote in its letter that the introduction of the JJSO was a
hallmark of this Government, and something that all the citizens of
Pakistan, including the Government, could justly be proud of. The
Government claimed credit throughout the world for introducing this law
that had remained pending in the dissolved Parliaments for years. It is
extremely unfortunate, the Board wrote, that the cycle has once again
been reversed.

The Board wrote that the JJSO, like all human made laws, may have
lacunas. These could be rectified, and the law modified according to the
directions of the Honorable Court instead of striking down the whole law.
The JJSO in no manner condones the crime perpetrated by juvenile
offenders, and SPARC likewise stands for punishing offenders for their
crimes. However, SPARC asks that the juvenile offenders be treated as a
separate category in accordance with the international norms.[Source: CRIN]