The slow-paced judicial proceedings has been much discussed, but now even juvenile courts are getting clogged with an increase in fresh cases.
NEW DELHI: The sad story of slow-paced judicial proceedings in the country has been much discussed, but now even juvenile courts are getting clogged with an increase in fresh cases everyday.
Though the latest consolidated figures of inmates in various juvenile homes are not available, scattered figures from some states have got the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) worried.
As per the Crime in India 2005 report (the latest consolidated report of crime across the country available with the National Crime Records Bureau), 32,681 juveniles were apprehended in the year. Of which, 13,778 were still awaiting trial at the end of the year.
The latest indicators are even more perturbing. Delhi alone has about 4,500 juvenile cases pending trial. Haryana and Punjab account for 6,326. In Mumbai, about 450 new cases of juvenile crime are recorded each year with a backlog of about 900 pending trial since 2004.
The NCPCR says a lack of juvenile justice boards (JJB) is the reason for this steep rise in the number of pending cases. The commission is now planning to issue guidelines to all states to set up at least one JJB in each district.
“The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 requires each district to have at least one JJB. However, there are states where there is only one JJB for three to four districts. How can one expect quick disposal of juvenile cases in such a scenario,” asks Sandhya Bajaj, a commission member.
The state of juvenile homes is even more dismal. As per 2006 records of Dongri Remand Home in Mumbai, about 2,400 entries were recorded as against the maximum capacity of 2,000 inmates. What’s worse is 35 per cent of the inmates had crossed the juvenile age of 18, waiting for their cases to get over.
A visit to the Kingsway Camp juvenile home in Delhi reveals a similar picture. Take the case of 19-year-old Ajit (name changed), who was brought to the juvenile home over two years ago on charges of murder.
“Proceedings in the case are over, witnesses and evidence were verified nearly six months ago, but I am still here. I don’t want to go to Tihar,” Ajit says.
Bajaj feels there is a dire need to speed up trials in juvenile cases, especially those involving petty offences. “Why should a child be kept in jail for years when the max punishment for his crime is six months? We received a complaint from Bihar where a child had spent over two years in a juvenile home for an offence for which the max punishment is six months,” rues Bajaj.
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