How many delinquent juveniles landed in adult jails in 5 yrs? HC asks govt
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the AAP government here to provide information on delinquent juveniles who landed in adult jails in the last five years and were subsequently sent to the child care institutions ''to better understand the systemic flaws''.
Issuing a slew of directions to "streamline the functioning of the juvenile justice delivery system", the high court ordered the Delhi government to fill the seven vacant posts of District Child Protection Officers within six weeks. It asked the city government to state when and how many juveniles were admitted to Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli jails and then transferred to the child care institutions as well as the offences allegedly committed by them.
The bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul, which was dealing with various issues pertaining to the interpretation and effective implementation of some provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, sought the information.
"To better understand the systemic flaws that lead to delinquent children/juveniles ending-up in adult jails, to begin with, we direct the Govt. of NCT of Delhi to furnish to this court, the number of children/juveniles, who were transferred from adult jails to juvenile justice homes/child care institutions in the last 05 years, with the details of the numbers found in Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli jails respectively; along with the date they were admitted and the date on which they were transferred from adult jails to juvenile justice homes/child care institutions; as also the offences with which they were charged. Let this information be filed before the next date of hearing by the State," said the bench, also comprising Justice Anup J Bhambhani in its order dated December 16.
The court directed that every Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) shall call for an 'Individual Care Plan' and a 'Rehabilitation Card' of a delinquent child from the Superintendent of the concerned home and review the progress of the child once every three months and issue necessary directions in case of unsatisfactory implementation.
It further stated that all JJBs must ensure that the post-release plan to recommend the aftercare for such child, which is required to be drawn-up two months before he/she is due to leave a child care institution, is placed before the concerned JJB and the child is produced before it two months before release.
The JJB must vet the post-release plan and issue necessary directions for its modification, monitoring and implementation, the court added. The court noted that several pending cases of petty offences against juveniles have been disposed of by the JJBs and Individual Care Plans have been called in many matters.
