Over 800 kids were in adult jails in last 5 yrs: HC to consider measures

New Delhi: After it was told that over 800 juveniles or children in conflict with the law had been imprisoned in adult jails temporarily in the last five years, the Delhi High Court is now set to consider a slew of measures to ensure the age of an arrestee is established at the police station — including provisions to add another column in Arrest Memos, deputing paralegal volunteers at police stations and other methods to ascertain the age of an arrestee at police stations.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup J Bhambhani was hearing a criminal reference to the implementation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act when the Delhi government submitted that since 2016, 837 children in conflict with the law had been transferred to children's homes after spending time in adult jails of Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli prison complexes.

The court had called for this data when a Principal Magistrate of a Juvenile Justice Board raised a question as to the circumstances when a juvenile in conflict with the law turns out to be a child in need of care and protection.

While perusing the data submitted by the Delhi government, the high court said, "The total (number of cases) adds-up to an alarming number of about 800 such cases. The question therefore is, as to whether and if so what, further directions are required from this court to streamline the process of assessing the age of an arrestee, at the very first step when the person is brought to a police station."

According to records of the hearings in the matter so far, counsels had at the outset, suggested the implementation of the NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) scheme, which empowered paralegal volunteers to visit the police stations apprise an arrestee of their legal rights under the circumstances.

Among other suggestions, it was also recommended that in the event an arrestee's juvenile status is under question, they should be placed in a safe home while authorities verify the age of the accused. Currently, arrestees between the ages of 18 and 21 are housed in a separate complex inside the Tihar jail.

In addition, it was also suggested that measures should be put in place to ensure compliance by all Magistrates of the mandate of sec. 9(1) and 9(4) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

In October last year, the high court had passed a slew of directions to be followed in the age-verification process after the arrest of juveniles. As per these, the police are required to submit proof of age documents to the Juvenile Justice Boards within 15 days, another 15 days have been given for an ossification test when ordered, and yet another 15 days have been set aside for the JJBs to complete the process.

After the hearing had been inconclusive, the matter had been adjourned to January 27, on which date the hearing could not take place as the Amicus Curiae could not appear. The matter has now been posted for hearing next week on February 10.