Adiala Jail Inquiry – Juvenile Justice During its investigation into custodial torture at Adiala Jail, NCHR took suo moto notice of the large number of under-trial prisoners and the lack of implementation of the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018. Out of a total of 82 juvenile prisoners 79 were under trial – 29 of whom were without legal representation which was in contravention to Section 3(1) of the JJSA, 2018. Additionally, 75% of male juveniles had no father and came from the most impoverished sections of society. With no support from family or the state, even those juvenile prisoners who had been granted bail had no recourse to sureties, no place to go, and despite provision of bail order remained incarcerated with habitual and hardened juvenile offenders. NCHR included the situation of the juvenile prisoners in its inquiry report to the Islamabad High Court, and with the help of a pro bono lawyer Mr. Haseeb Sultan the Commission was able to provide under-trial inmates with legal representation. NCHR’s Impact on Juvenile Justice With regard to the situation of juvenile prisoners detailed in the inquiry report, Chief Justice Minallah ordered the Federal Government and the Government of Punjab to take measures to accommodate the children that had received bail through the intervention of NCHR at appropriate child protection centres. a. Due to NCHR’s intervention and the provision of legal representation, 75 children were released from Adiala Jail with the support of speedy investigation by police and prompt disposal by the juvenile magistrates of the area b. NCHR’s report highlighted the condition of the juvenile prisoners and the fact that JJSA 2018 remained operational. This led to the first ever Notification of Juvenile Justice Committees in Islamabad under Section 10 of JJSA, 2018 (See Annex 5) 11