Is Pakistan providing justice to juveniles?
EVEN if you violate the law, the State still provides you with some basic fundamental rights which every human being is entitled to have. An essential criterion of juvenile justice is when a child commits a crime, he should not be treated as an adult in any court. The people of Pakistan, especially women and children, are deprived of their basic fundamental rights bestowed to them by the law just because of the sole reason that they are unaware of those rights. Even after the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018 (JJSA 2018) has been enacted in the country, juvenile justice remains largely unimplemented in the country. Law enforcement agencies keep treating juveniles as adults and play a key role in the miscarriage of justice in society.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and their treaties have been endorsed by Pakistan, including juvenile rights. The State must protect the life of children under articles 25(3) and 35 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Juveniles are entitled to have special provisions in the eyes of the law under section 82 and section 83 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). However, their implementation is not visible to the masses, keeping aside the fact that the common man still needs to be made aware of the basic policies of these treaties. The goal of the government is to implement it to the highest level and make it dominant in society.
The question arises why there is a surge in juvenile delinquency in Pakistan. The answer lies in the failure of our justice system. It is our justice system that instigates young offenders to be habitual offenders. Under section 20 of JJSA 2018, the government should establish rehabilitation centers for juveniles. But the concept of rehabilitation centers doesn’t even exist in our justice system. The juveniles are put into jails filled with adult convicts, which has a long-lasting impact on the mindset of juveniles and turns them into criminals for the rest of their life. They blame the State for not providing them a chance to be a law-abiding citizen.
Child Rights International Network (CRIN) ranks states according to the extent to which their legal systems effectively guarantee children’s right to access justice. Pakistan has 119th position out of 197 countries which shows the despicable condition of our justice system. In developed countries, the cases against minors are not kept in the record as it will affect their future and eliminate the chance of being innocent for the rest of their lives. Keeping this thing aside, in Pakistan, juveniles are not even treated as juveniles in the courts; what to talk about keeping their files archived. However, the trials of juveniles shall be held in juvenile courts according to section 4 of JJSO 2018. But here, the case is different.
The most important and most ignored right of juveniles is the right to legal assistance to juveniles. Section 3 of the JJSO 2018 states that legal assistance shall be provided to juvenile offenders at the State’s expense. Furthermore, within 24 hours of taking a juvenile into custody, he shall be informed by a legal practitioner about his legal rights.
Indeed Pakistan is unable to provide justice to the youth due to the poor management and negligence of law enforcement agencies. Pakistan should take specific measures regarding the safe future of juveniles and establish more rehabilitation centers to help juvenile offenders become civilized citizens in their coming life. In this way, the country’s crime rate would decrease considerably and the state officials could focus on other things required to keep Pakistan progressing.
—The writer is a contributing columnist and associated with Punjab University Law College.
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