The Supreme Court has admitted for regular hearing a Federal appeal against the shooting down of Juvenile Justice Ordinance by the Lahore High Court ordering that the case should be re-presented to the First Bench soon after receipt of comments from the petitioner who had successfully sought a writ against the law in the first instance.
In a short order granting leave for appeal, the Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui also ordered the first petitioner, Farooq Ahmed of Faisalabad to return the appeal with his replies to the points raised by the Attorney General, Makhdoom Ali, here on Friday morning.
In a separate petition, Anis Jilani, Chairman of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, a non-government organisation (NGO), spoke in support of the Federal appeal before the First Bench. Presided over by the Chief Justice, the Bench included Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.
In seeking the admission of Federal appeal, Attorney General argued that the LHC judgement clashed with Articles Four, Nine and 15 of the Constitution that guaranteed the citizens a right to be dealt with law, security and freedom of movement.
Makhdoom Ali Khan also said the judgement was based on "extra legal considerations and those could not make a ground for striking down a law." He pointed out that the Ordinance introduced in 2000 had been validated by the Legislature under Seventh Amendment passed in 2003.
In a common judgement delivered by a full bench in last December, the Court had held the Juvenile Justice Ordinance "a nightmare of impracticality, imprudent and not a fit piece with the current legal system." The LHC judges had specially targeted the provision prohibiting death penalty for all children not only violative of the right to life of others but an encouragement to juveniles to commit heinous crimes.
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