Meaningful rehabilitation of juvenile offenders topmost priority: WCD

A senior official from the Ministry of Women and Child Development told Millennium Post, “We are planning to have a comprehensive rehabilitation programme in place for juvenile offenders. In advanced countries their focus in such cases is that when a juvenile offender comes out he should be a better citizen. These countries came up with innovative ways of doing it for example these offenders were assigned to do community service.”

The official stressed that “instead of remanding the offender to a juvenile home he should be given some work in a municipality or a panchayat or in some public service facility where he will go and work for two to three years. His identity will be kept confidential. Otherwise he will be perceived as an offender and people will not respond to him properly. These are the things we are thinking of adopting.”

The aim of the ministry is to have a meaningful rehabilitation programme where the process of reform is complete. 

“The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) will assess and review the progress of the juvenile offender and accordingly take a decision before releasing him.” He explained that even in the regular prisons where adult prisoners are lodged many states have come up with new kind of prison - it is an open prison where people are not physically confined and can move around freely like ordinary citizens. 

“If a person is sentenced and he goes to jail and after seeing his work and conduct for the first couple of years, if it is without blemish then he has an option to go to an open prison. There the advantage is that he can learn a trade and earn some money. There is also a system where you work with the community to provide post sentence employment. These are things we are looking at doing,” he added.

Asked on how these accused can be shielded from harassment within the juvenile homes and prisons he said, “Even now the juvenile homes have not only offenders per say, they also house children who are orphans or someone who has both parents in jail. Even now offenders and non-offenders are kept separately.” 

He said the ministry is also ensuring that the adoption process for the orphans in these centres is expedited through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).