On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court sought to know from the Delhi government the time frame for setting up Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) in all the 11 districts in the city.
A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup J Bhambhani also sought to know from the city government about the allocation of funds they have done in the last couple of years for JJBs in the city along with the amount disbursed.
The court was hearing a criminal reference by the principal magistrate of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB)-2, Delhi Gate, which concerns circumstances when a child in conflict with law (‘CCL’) also happens to be a child in need for care and protection (‘CNCP’).
During the hearing, the court expressed concerns over the non-production of the CCL before a magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest.
“The question is you can’t stage the hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The Prince has to make his appearance. Once he is there, only then you can stage the hamlet. That is where it begins. You are saying that there is a problem with juvenile justice boards,” the court said.
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“What we have done so far is that there has to be appearance within 24 hours regardless of whether the juvenile is in safe custody of the board or guardian or kept in an observation home temporarily. Then within two weeks, the age related documents have to be obtained and furnished to the JJB. Then the board will make a call within two weeks apart from cases where ossification test is required which again has to be done within two weeks,” the court said.
The bench also remarked that a society is judged on how it takes care of its children and if we are unable to do that, then “God helps us”.
Advocate Nandita Rao, appearing for the Delhi government, informed the court about the institutions available for children and said that there are three types of homes under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The court granted four weeks time to the city government to respond on various aspects and listed the matter for further hearing on December 14.
Last month, the high court had directed the closure of all cases involving children arrested in petty crimes where the inquiry has been pending and remains inconclusive for a period longer than one year, regardless of whether such child or juvenile has been produced before the Juvenile Justice Boards in Delhi.
Petty crimes under Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act are defined as those which entail a maximum imprisonment up to three years. These include offences such as assault, causing simple hurt, theft, forgery etc.
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