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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi High Court Tuesday pulled up the Delhi Police for not producing juveniles apprehended in petty offences before the Juvenile Justice Boards within 24 hours. It has directed the authorities to inform it about the steps taken to implement the court order directing closure of inquiries in all such cases, alleging petty offences against children, which have remained pending and inconclusive for more than one year.
The division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani expressed shock after it was informed by the Delhi government that 3,965 cases involving petty offences by children were registered since March 2020 in which 2,857 children were apprehended but only 632 were produced before the JJBs. 2,443 out of 2,857 children were handed over to their parents or guardians immediately, as per the submission made before the court. The court had previously been told by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) that a total of 1,108 such cases were pending, as of June 30, for a year or more and 795 cases were pending for a period between 6 months and one year before the JJBs.
The counsel representing the police and government told the court that they are still reconciling the data with the information available with different agencies and require time to apprise the court about the actual position in cases involving children.
Observing that everybody was singing a tune of their own and that the numbers are confusing, the court said that it was under the impression that all children apprehended in petty offences are immediately handed over to parents. It also said that children alleged to be involved in petty offences may not be required to be sent to observation homes.
“Where are these 409 juveniles? Lost in the system? Fallen through the cracks? We cannot speculate. We shudder to think what awaits us,” said the court after the counsel representing the police could not answer about the children who were apprehended but apparently have not handed over to their families as per the data.
The court, last month, ordered that the child must be produced before the JJB, whether or not apprehended or otherwise detained, without any loss of time but in any case within twenty-four hours of the child becoming subject of processes under the Juvenile Justice Act.
On Tuesday, the court said that the policing did not stop during the pandemic and it will not allow the police to continue with such non-production of children before JJBs just because it gives them more time for completion of inquiries against such children.
The court also expressed disapproval with the conduct of the JJBs in the matter and asked whether they are aware of its order passed last month. It had directed on September 29 that the formal order closing all such matters where the inquiry has remained pending for longer than one year shall be passed by before the JJBs within two weeks.
“We can understand that the executive is finding it difficult to comply with our direction. We can understand that JJB is not complying with the order. We will not countenance this. We will not turn a blind eye to this,” it added.
According to Section 14 of the Juvenile Justice Act, the inquiry pertaining to petty offences against a child in conflict with the law shall stand terminated if it remains inconclusive after a maximum of six months. Petty offences mean the criminal cases where the maximum punishment under the law is imprisonment of up to three years.
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