Juvenile Board’s work below standard: HC

[Shakti Vahini]

Juvenile Board’s work below standard: HC Tanushree Roy Chowdhury Tags : juvenile board, delhi Posted: Friday , Sep 25, 2009 at 0030 hrs The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed that members of the Juvenile Board in these states do not hold meetings to discuss the finer points of the juvenile justice delivery system as often as they ought to. Taking note of this, the HC has made it clear that the administration in these two states must meet more frequently. “Members should meet at least once a day and not according to their convenience,” observed the court. Ironically, most districts of Haryana either do not have a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) or a Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Those which do exist are merely on paper like the JJBs in Bhiwani, Hisar and Faridabad. As per the provisions of the Act, the state government is supposed to “establish and maintain either by itself or in association with voluntary organisations, children’s homes in every district” The state will monitor their functioning by appointing inspection committees at the district or the city level under Section 35 of the Act. In the 21 districts in Haryana, however, only two care homes are available — one in Rai, Sonepat, for boys and one in Karnal for girls. Other than these, there are three observation homes (for juvenile delinquents) each at Sonepat, Karnal and Faridabad. Sonepat has a home for disabled children. According to a sub-group report submitted under the Child Protection in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, it is mandatory to establish a Childline in every district, for providing counselling and rehabilitative services to children along with linkages to other available schemes of the Centre or the state governments. he report reads: “There are inadequate numbers of CWC and JJBs. The CWCs and the JJBs are not provided with the requisite facilities for their efficient functioning, resulting in delayed disposal of case.” Further, the sub report adds,: “The minimal government structure that exists is rigid and a lot of time and energy goes in maintaining the structure itself rather than concentrating on programmatic outcomes.” It further reads that “no mapping has been done of the children in need of care and protection or of the services available for them at the district/city/state level”. Allocation under the general grant-in-aid scheme for assistance to voluntary organisations in the field of women and child development has been increased in the Eleventh Plan. The financial allocation for five years under this is Rs 5 crore annually. Also, the proposed financial allocation for Child Protection under the Plan is Rs 11,736.62 crore. Nevertheless, the sub-report mentions clearly that the “allotment of negligible resource to child protection and uneven utilisation of allotted resources in terms of geographical spread” is a major reason for glaring gaps in services. “In every police station, at least one officer with aptitude, appropriate training and orientation should be designated as ‘juvenile or the child welfare officer’ who will handle the juvenile or the child in co-ordination with the police. A special juvenile police unit, of which all police officers designated as above, to handle juveniles or children will be members, may be created in every district and city,” reads the Act. According to the sub report, however, “training of personnel working under the juvenile justice system and on other child protection programmes is inadequate and inequitable among states. ”www.shaktivahini.org www.mediacoalition.in www.indialawyers.wordpress.com www.mediacoalition.wordpress.com www.savearravali.wordpress.com Delhi Office : 011- 42870188 Faridabad Office : 0129- 4045365

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