10. Arrest and bail.--(1) Where a child is
arrested for commission of an offence, the officer incharge of the police
station in which the child is detained shall, as soon as may be, inform--
(a) the guardian of the child, if he can be
found, of such arrest and inform him of the time, date and name of the Juvenile
Court before which the child shall be produced; and
(b) the concerned Probation Officer to
enable him to obtain such information about the child and other material
circumstances which may be of assistance to the Juvenile Court for making
inquiry.
(2) Where a child accused of a non-bailable
offence is arrested, he shall, without any delay and in no case later than
twenty four hours from such arrest, be produced before the Juvenile Court.
(3) Without prejudice to the provisions of the
Code, a child accused of a bailable offence shall, if already not released under
Section 496 of Code, be released by the Juvenile Court on bail, with or without
surety, unless it appears that there are reasonable grounds for believing that
the release of the child shall bring him into association with any criminal or
expose the child to any danger, in which case, the child shall be placed under
the custody of a Probation Officer or a suitable person or institution dealing
with the welfare of the children if parent or guardian of the child is not
present, but shall not under any circumstances be kept in a police station or
jail in such cases.
(4) The Juvenile Court shall in a case where a
child is not granted, bail under sub-section (3), direct for tracing the
guardian of such child and where the guardian of the child is traced out, the
Juvenile Court may immediately release the child on bail.
(5) Where a child under the age of fifteen years
is arrested or detained for an offence which is punishable with imprisonment of
less than ten years, shall be treated as if he was accused of commission of a
bailable offence.
(6) No child under the age of fifteen years shall
be arrested under any of the laws dealing with preventive detention or under
the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Code.
(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in the
Code and except where a Juvenile Court is of the opinion that the delay in the
trial of the accused has been occasioned by an act or omission of the accused
or any other person acting on his behalf or in exercise of any right or
privilege under any law for the time being in force, a child who, for
commission of an offence, has been detained, shall be released on bail,--
(a) if, being accused of an offence
punishable with death, has been detained for such an offence for a continuous
period exceeding one year and whose trial for such an offence has not been
concluded;
(b) if, being accused of any offence
punishable for imprisonment for life, has been detained for such an offence for
a continuous period exceeding six months and whose trial for such offence has
not concluded; or
(c) who, being accused of any offence not
punishable with death, or imprisonment for life, has been detained for such an
offence for a continuous period exceeding four months and whose trial for such
an offence has not concluded:
Provided that where a
child of the age of fifteen years or above is arrested, the Court may refuse to
grant bail if there are reasonable grounds to believe that such child is
involved in an offence which in its opinion is serious, heinous, gruesome,
brutal, sensational in character or shocking to public morality or he is a
previous convict of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life.
COMMENTARY
Detention of Minor
children by police tied up with hand-cuffs and fetters. Magistrate allowed
judicial remand. Act of Magistrate was declared illegal, contrary to law and
against provision of Section 10 of the Ordinance. PLJ 2007 SC 30.
Entitlement to
concession of bail, being a minor. Delay of three days in F.I.R. and five days
delay in medical examination of violation committeed zina-bil-jabr on pistol
point. No plausible explanation. Juvenile. Bail allowed. Petitioner was a
juvenile. Being a minor his case also falls u/S. 7 of the Ordinance. In view of
age of accused, he become entitled to the concession of bail as provided under
law. Petitioner was behind the bars more than four months. Although the challn
has been submitted before the Court but without commencement of trial. Accused
cannot be kept behind the bars for an indefinite period as it would amount to
punishing him before trial. Accused is admitted bail subject to his furnishing
bail bond. PLJ 2008 Cr.C. (
Person below 18 years of
age at the time of commission of offence. Such person in ordinary course would
be released on bail or placed under custody of a probation officer, but would
not be handcuffed, put in fetters or given any corporeal punishment. Where
offence was not serious, heinous or gruesome, then release of such person on
bail should be preferred. 2006 SCMR 1805.
Accused was juvenile and
u/S. 10(7)(a) of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, he was entitled to bail as
he was in jail since his arrest. PLJ 2008 Cr.C. (
Immunity from sentence
of death, lenience in matter of bail after arrest and prospects of release on
probation after conviction provided in Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000
contained incentives for and have tendency of not only encouraging persons
below the age of 18 years to commit heinous crimes like murder, gang-rape
terrorism and trafficking in narcotics, but can embolden the older people in
society to prompt young ones to commit crimes with an understanding and
assurance that they would get away with lesser sentences apart from availing of
concessions in matters of bail and release on probation. PLJ 2005