Pakistani School boy Nuaman Arshad, 9th class student of Lahore school is ordered to be sent back to Pakistan after giving him warning by the Juvenile Justice Board, Amritsar. He was arrested by BSF on 12.01.2010 at Attari Border and a case under Foreigners Act was registered against him. His case was taken up by Lawyers For Human Rights International after reading a news item in the Newspapers. His case was first highlighted by the Newspaper “The Hindu”.

Nauman, who was 14 years old at the time, accidentally crossed over the border line separating Pakistan and India on January 12 this year. He was arrested by the BSF and subjected to “sustained interrogation,” following which he “confessed” to being a “terrorist”.

Though the juvenile court disposed off the January 14, 2010 FIR on Friday evening, the orders were dictated only on Saturday morning. While accepting the documents placed before it, the court passed down the release orders after issuing a warning to Nauman, who was booked under Section 3 of the Indian Passport Act (Entry into India) and the Foreigners’ Act at the Gharinda Police Station of the Amritsar district.

Mr. V.P.S. Bhatia of LFHRI who appeared on behalf of the Pakistani Schoolboy, had pleaded that the BSF and the police could not effect any recoveries from Numan. The boy had claimed that he was in Pakistani territory, when some BSF personnel patrolling the border had called him to ask some questions. After taking him into custody, the BSF had handed over Numan to the Punjab Police.

The court accepted that Nauman’s entry into India without valid documents was accidental. During the hearings, two BSF officials deposed that both India and Pakistan had often returned each others citizens who crossed the border “by mistake”. Simultaneously, the necessary documents from the governments of India and Pakistan validating the antecedents of the juvenile prisoner were also placed before the court.

Mr. Navkiran Singh, General secretary of the LFHRI expressed the hope that Nauman’s repatriation would be carried out at the earliest by the both countries.