PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court will open a child protection court in Ghalanai area of Mohmand tribal district after Eidul Azha.

It will be the first such court in the merged tribal districts and fourth in the province.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has three of the six countrywide child protection courts.

They’re functioning in Peshawar, Mardan and Abbottabad under the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010, and Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018.Until now, the three courts have convicted 11 men and a woman for offences against children, including rape, murder, unnatural offence and kidnapping.

Peshawar High Court registrar Khawaja Wajihuddin told Dawn that seven virtual child courts would be established at divisional level in near future with trained and appointed judicial teams to ensure child-sensitive dispensation of justice in the context of Covid-19 pandemic.

PHC registrar says civil work completed, equipment installed in Ghalanai building

He said the phenomenal success of child protection courts in Peshawar, Mardan and Abbottabad had led to the establishment of such courts in the erstwhile Fata to provide justice to the downtrodden and often neglected children in the region.

“Civil work has been completed and equipment has been installed in the court building, whose virtual launch will take place after Eidul Azha,” he said adding that there will be a child protection court in every district of the province.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth had inaugurated the province’s first child court in Peshawar on Mar 16, 2019.

The National Judicial Policy Making Committee later endorsed the initiative and decided to establish pilot child courts first in every provincial capital and later in every district across the country.

In Oct 2019, two additional pilot child courts were established in Mardan and Abbottabad.

According to the latest data released by the high court about the three child courts, for the first time in the country, four boys in conflict with the law availed provision of diversion under the JJSA, which is a form of rehabilitation contributing to keeping away children from detention as much as possible and reform them into positive citizens.

While the national average rate of case disposal for those pilot child courts is 43 per cent, the average rate is 45 per cent in KP with the Peshawar court recording an average rate of 53.5 per cent followed by Mardan with 44.5 per cent and Abbottabad with 36 per cent.

Moreover, the average time to dispose of a case in KP in those pilot child courts is 99 days, while the national average rate for those courts is 128 days.

The data shows that 1125 children (89 per cent boys and 11 per cent girls) in conflict and in contact with the law have benefited child sensitive justice services in child courts.

Of them, 512 were children (82 per cent boys and 18 per cent girls) in conflict with the law. A total of 422 were granted bail and 55 were acquitted. Until now, 411 children appeared as witnesses and 202 as victims.

Overall, a boy and a girl charged for commission of offences have been convicted under the JJSA.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020