1. Home
2. Editorial

Stinking affairs of JJBs

Kashmir Times. Dated: 7/26/2015 11:25:33 PM

Imposition of fine on central government for not filing adequate response to the directions of the SC exposes casual attitude towards serious issues

The Supreme Court of India imposing a cost of Rs 25,000 on the central government for not filing response before it in matters relating to functioning of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) across the nation has taken the lid off the stinking affairs of this institution. In fact, the lackadaisical approach of the centre in dealing with such issues also speaks volumes about the functioning of the government and its agencies in dealing with some serious issues relating to children particularly those involved in criminal cases. It also exposes the casual attitude on such issues of the government because this issue needs to be seriously debated and put in place a mechanism for reformation of juvenile criminals instead of putting them behind bars. It has also been pointed out time and again that juveniles across the country should be treated as a separate section of the society so far as going into the causes of their involvement in criminal cases is concern and then setting up institutions so that they can be reformed. In matters relating to their involvement in criminal activities, it is also the responsibility of the state to probe whether they have strayed into such cases or were forced to do such acts of omission and commission which are criminal in the eyes of law. It is also to be seen that the central government as well as the states and union territories ensure compliance of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, which includes setting up of JJBs in each district of the country by the end of this year. In the Public Interest Litigation filed by NGOs, it has been pointed out that the government has not shown any seriousness in dealing with such issues despite the fact that clear guidelines under the law have been issued for submission of reports on juvenile issues. The centre had not done so till date attracting the harsh comments from the judges in the Supreme Court hearing the petition. A division bench of the court went on to observe that "You (the Ministry of Women and Child Development) are not even bothered to file your affidavit. You will have to pay the cost."
It is unfortunate that despite the law being in force for pretty number of years, the centre and the states have yet to take a decision to set up JJBs and monitoring the reports submitted by the district level centres for scrutiny by the higher authorities so that corrective measures can be suggested for dealing with protection of children in such homes. The question of corrections in the monitoring mechanism of reports on JJBs does not arise because many states and union territories are yet to respond to the directions of the Supreme Court. Jammu and Kashmir state is no exception on this issue because no such centres or homes have been established by the government till date. The directions of the High Court in J&K are yet to be taken into consideration. It appears that the state governments have forgotten everything about the issue once the High Court passed directions and allowed the authorities to monitor the cases on their own. Since the NGOs in J&K did not pursue the cases further, the state government and its agencies went into deep slumber forgetting everything about protection of children involved in criminal activities. It is also a sad state of affairs that instead of allowing monitoring of cases from each district across the nation, the centre failed even to collect data on its own about the number of cases pending before the JJBs and district level homes on the pretext that there were no clear guidelines for online filing of reports from such places. Apart from this, there is also no mechanism for the children referred to such homes by the courts in juvenile criminal cases for reformation. Repeated directions are issued by the courts for sending juvenile criminals to such homes for reformation but there is no response to the directions of the courts. In J&K one such home has been established inside the district jail complex and there is no data available how the referred cases are treated and what steps are initiated for reforms process. Unless strict monitoring is ensured by the courts, the governments are unlikely to wake up from their deep slumber on such serious issues.