The Notorious Practice of Custodial Torture in Pakistan
Custodial torture, or torture in custody, is often used as a tool by the perpetrators of justice, i.e., law enforcement agencies.
Rida Zaman asserts that these so-called custodians of justice contribute to the waning of the just and fair standards of the criminal justice system.
She also notes that the relevant legislation, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2023, suffers from procedural and substantive deficiencies.
The Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018 in Pakistan
To safeguard the rights of the children allegedly involved in criminal activities, Pakistan passed the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA), 2018. The act specified the age limit of juveniles, established a mechanism to verify the age of the alleged offender, categorized offenses, and called for the establishment of observation homes and juvenile rehabilitation centers to provide a safety net for the children. The author, Rida Zaman, notes that the JJSA is far from perfect. By highlighting the shortcomings of the act, she argues that the juvenile justice system of Pakistan has room for improvement. However, this improvement requires the state to first overcome the hindrances in its path to the provision of justice.