IHC to hear Shehzad Roy’s plea against corporal punishment today

Petition states Article 89 of PPC violates basic human rights

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday (today) will take up Singer and Zindagi Trust President Shehzad Roy’s application seeking a ban on torture and corporal punishment of children. IHC Chief Justice Athar Manullah will hear the case.

By making the secretaries from the interior, law, education, and human rights departments and the federal police inspector general as a party to the case, the petition states that punishing children in educational institutions have become a routine.

“Children’s punishment is being considered essential for improving learning. News of torture and punishment of children has been reported every day in the media,” states the petition.

It quotes a report published by SPARK, according to which around 35,000 children leave school annually because of punishment. “Pakistan ranks 154 out of 182 countries in terms of children’s rights.”

The petition requests that Article 89 of Pakistan Penal Code be held contradictory to the basic human rights as “it violates the basic human rights and the United Nations Convention on Children”.

Physical punishment should be banned in schools, prisons, and detention centres, it states, adding that the government should be directed to protect children from physical and mental torture.

It has also been urged that schools should be instructed in every way to protect children from any kind of physical and mental torture.

Under the UN Convention, the petition states full implementation of child protection laws should be directed and an immediate injunction should be issued to ensure the protection of children’s basic rights.