KP’s first Child Protection Court inaugurated

PESHAWAR: The first-ever Child Protection Court was inaugurated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Judicial Complex Peshawar last week.

Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Waqar Ahmad Seth inaugurated the court.

The Child Protection Court has been established under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010 and Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018, which will handle issues related to child protection and welfare cases particularly legal custody of destitute and neglected children.

The court will also help in reunification of destitute and neglected children with their families, trial of cases registered under the Child Protection and Welfare Act, welfare of children, trial of cases involving where children are victim, witness and offender and protection of movable and immovable properties of orphans, neglected and children at risk.

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Addressing the ceremony, Registrar Peshawar High Court Khawaja Wajihuddin, said primary role of this court was to ensure protection of children from maltreatment, violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect.

He said protecting vulnerable children from mental and physical abuse and mistreatment was collective responsibility of every segment of the society and stressed the need for proactive child protection policy to provide safe environment.

He said that in the first phase Additional District and Sessions Judge Wadeeya Mushtaq Malik had been appointed as presiding officer of the Child Protection Court at Peshawar. As many as 62 cases have been filed in child protection court so far.