Separate facility for child prisoners needed

SINDH is plagued by the absence of a juvenile justice system. The situation, however, is worst in the northern part of the province. Major players in the criminal justice system are unaware of special protection measures provided in different laws for children coming into contact with the law.

Children are handcuffed and kept in police lockups with adults. They are taken to courts in the same vans as adults. They are presented in courts deigned to cater to the needs of the adult prisoners. Their cases are heard in overcrowded courts in violation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.

Children arrested in Sukkar, Khairpur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts for minor and major crimes are kept in the ‘bacha’ (juvenile) wards annexed to the adults’ prison.

The adult prisoners access them very easily because they are entertained by the same administration at the same entry point.

There are two correctional facilities, namely Youthful Offenders Industrial Schools (YOIS) in Karachi and Hyderabad. These schools deal with children who belong to urban areas but they (schools) are handicapped by certain limitations and problems of resources and capacities.

Although these were established under the provisions of the Sindh Children Act, 1955, they are being run under the Pakistan Prison Rules 1978.

But juveniles from northern Sindh do not have any such separate correctional facility that can help them to improve their attitude and life, and make them normal beings. The fact of their being in the proximity of adult prisoners is a stumbling block. In the absence of any correctional facility, borstal institution or YOIS in any part of northern Sindh, hundreds of juvenile prisoners sometimes turn out to be hardened criminals or become victim of physical and sexual abuse.

Life and attitude of the juvenile inmates in interior Sindh can be improved through reformatory institutions like a separate institution/prison in northern Sindh.

ABDULLAH KHOSO
Karachi
Thursday, 03 Sep, 2009 | 01:41 AM PST
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