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. A basic criterion of juvenile justice is when a child commits a crime, he is not to be treated as an adult in any court. The people of Pakistan especially women and children are deprived of their basic fundamental rights bestowed on 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) passed by the parliament, juvenile justice remains largely unimplemented in the country. Law enforcement agencies keep on treating juveniles as adults and play a key role in the miscarriage of justice in society.
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 is having 119th position out of 197 countries which shows the despicable condition of our justice system. Juveniles are entitled to have special provisions in the eyes of law under section 82 and 83 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The state has an obligation to protect the life of children under Articles 25(3) and 35 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
United Nations 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, which includes juvenile rights but their implementation is not visible to the masses, keeping aside the fact that a common man is still unaware of the basic policies of these treaties. The goal of government is to implement it to the highest level and make it dominant in society.
The question arises that why there is a peak 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 centres for juveniles. But the concept of rehabilitation centres doesn’t even exist in our justice system. The juveniles are put into jails that too filled with adult convicts which has a long-lasting impact on the mindset of juveniles and turn them into a criminal for the rest of their life. They blame the State for not providing them with a chance to be a subservient citizen. “Juvenile crimes aren’t just committed. It’s something they sink into.” – Judge Sim Eunseok
In developed countries, the cases against minors are not kept in the record as it will affect his/her future and eliminate the chance to be an innocent person. Keeping this thing aside, in Pakistan juveniles are not even treated as juveniles in the courts, what to talk of keeping their files archived. According to section 4 of JJSO 2018, Prime Minister shall establish the juvenile courts and the trails of juvenile offenders shall be continued in those courts. But here the case is totally different. The juveniles are not responsible for the crimes they commit, instead, the justice system of our country is mainly responsible for it.
The most important and most ignored right of juveniles is the right of legal assistance to juveniles. According to Section 3 of the JJSO 2018, the legal assistance shall be provided to a juvenile offender at the expense of the State and within 24 hours of taking a juvenile into custody, he/she shall be informed by a legal practitioner about his legal rights. Pakistan should take specific measures regarding the safe future of the juveniles and establish more rehabilitation centres to help juvenile offenders become civilized citizens in their coming life. In this way, the crime rate in the country is likely decrease by a considerable level and the State officials could focus on other things which are required to keep Pakistan progressing.
—The writer is a law professional, based in Lahore.
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