Pakistan declines to take custody of 2 juveniles at Attari border

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Faridkot, March 29

In absence of any orders from the Pakistan Ministry of External Affairs for the repatriation of two juvenile Pakistani boys who had strayed into Tarn Taran area on August 31, 2022, the Pakistan authorities at Attari have declined to take the custody of these juveniles. Both are languishing in Faridkot Observation Home for the last about 19 months.

It was after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that both were released from the observation home here on Thursday and taken to Attari border for their repatriation to their home country. They were accompanied by Secretary, District Legal Services Authority-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridkot. But the Pakistani authorities declined to take the boys in absence of any orders in this regard from their ministry.

While these boys have been brought back to the observation home, Faridkot District and Sessions Judge Navjot Kaur has raised the matter with the External Affairs Ministry in India to take up the matter with their counterparts in Pakistan.

Punjab and Haryana High Court had intervened in the case after Justice NS Sekhawat visited the Faridkot Sessions Division for inspection in January.

During his visit to the observation home in Faridkot where under-trial and convicted juveniles are housed, the Judge found that two Pakistani boys were languishing in the observation home here even though they were acquitted by the Juvenile Justice Board on April 18, 2023.

But the boys could not be repatriated to their home in Pakistan as the process is a long drawn procedure involving the Union Ministry of External Affairs Ministry and Directorate of District Social Security and Welfare Department, the Sessions Judge said.

The boys will have to stay for some more time in the observation home as the nod of the Pakistani authorities is still awaited, said Raj Kumar, superintendent at the observation home.