LAHORE: The Office of the Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, has provided official data confirming that a total of 72 children have been convicted to life imprisonment across various prisons in Punjab.
The information was released in response to a request filed by Advocate Sarmad Ali under Article 19 (A) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, read with Section 10 of the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013. According to the data, child convicts sentenced to life imprisonment are held in five prison facilities. The Central Jail Rawalpindi has four such prisoners, while the District Jail Kasur and the District Jail Sialkot each house one.
The Borstal Institute and Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre in Faisalabad has the highest number, with thirty-nine convicted children. The Borstal Institute and Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre in Bahawalpur holds twenty-seven.
The director of Legal Awareness Watch and chairperson of the Juvenile Justice and Child Rights Committee of the Lahore Bar Association told The News a fair trial is the right of children and that they must be treated in accordance with the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018.
The office of the Inspector General of Prisons confirmed that these figures cover all 43 operational prisons in Punjab as of the date of the request. The response was issued by the chief public information officer of the Punjab Prisons Department.
Published in The NEWS on November 26, 2025.
