CPC dismisses pre-arrest bail

PESHAWAR: The police on Tuesday arrested senior official of the University of Peshawar (UoP) from the court’s premises after the Child Protection Court dismissed his pre-arrest bail in a case of beating and abusing a number of street children.

The police arrested Gohar Rahman, deputy director administration of the UoP, after a judge of the Child Protection Court, Wadya Mushtaq Malik, dismissed his pre-arrest bail application. The Campus police, on March 24, lodged a case against the official under sections 34, 37 and 44 of the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 for torturing children, which was caught on video and went viral on social media.

During the hearing, the accused official submitted before the court that he had entered into a compromise with the parents of the children, which was turned down by the court, with the observation that the crime under the Child Protection Act, is non-compoundable (non-bailable).

A few days after the establishment of the first-ever Child Protection Court in the province, the PHC took notice of the official’s violence over street children and referred the matter to the Child Protection Court. The University Campus police registered the case on the court’s direction, in which the accused director got his pre-arrest bail and patched the thing up out of court with the parents of the children. However, the court turned down the compromise agreement between the accused official and parents of the children, who were also present in the court. The police had charged the UoP deputy director under sections 34, 37 and 44 of the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010.

Section 37 is related to punishment for violence which reads, “Whosoever, commits violence against a child shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees; provided that if the offence is committed by a group of more than two persons, the term of imprisonment which may extend to ten years each with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees each.”

Section 44 is related to cruelty to a child that reads, “Whoever, not being a parent, having the actual charge of or control over a child, willfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, abandons or exposes him to be assaulted physically, or negligently fails to provide adequate food, clothes or medical aid, or behaving with the child in a manner likely to cause such child unnecessary mental and physical suffering, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to a fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees.” While Section 34 of the act is related to corporal punishment in which there is six months sentence and fine is Rs50,000.