89 children facing life term in Punjab prisons

LAHORE : The Inspectorate General of Prisons Punjab has recently released a data in response to the request from the Director of Legal Awareness Watch (LAW) that 89 children have been serving life imprisonment (25-years) across 43 operational prisons of Punjab.

According to the data available with The News, The Director, Legal Awareness Watch, had submitted its request under Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 which was promulgated in the wake of 18th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan 1973.

Thereafter, the letter addressed to Sarmad Ali, Director LAW, stated that 37 children in Faisalabad Borstal, 43 children in Bahawalpur Borstal, 1 in District Jail Lahore, 1 in Central Jail Rawalpindi, 1 in District Jail Hafizabad, 1 in Attock, 1 in District Jail Sargodha, 1 in District Jail Okara, and 1 in District Jail Rahim Yar Khan are serving life imprisonment under various penal violations.

While talking to the News, Ali said that children would only be rehabilitated, not incarcerated even in rarest of rare circumstances.

He lamented that juvenile justice act 2018 was enacted to safeguard the best interests of children in conflict with the law ensuring that they would be leniency under the law.