Despite some violations of the Juvenile Justice Act with impunity, the child protection law has helped reform and rehabilitate many children who had a brush against the established justice delivery system in Jammu and Kashmir.
From ensuring release of juveniles from illegal detentionsand protecting their privacy to conduct of timely examination of minors the JJAct has proven to be a balm for many children in conflict with law.
In the recent past the law was violated with impunity, butits positive effects are not insignificant.
A magazine, ‘Juveniles’ Fora’ released by Juvenile JusticeBoard of Baramulla district highlights some cases of children who haveundergone a major transformation. The magazine highlights cases of children whohave gone on to become law abiding and bread earners for their families.
In one of the cases, a juvenile was convicted by the courtof Judicial Magistrate, Boniyar. The file was forwarded to JJB Baramulla forfinal order of punishment and disposal which directed legal probation officer(LPO) to file an SIR to enable the board to ascertain the actual cause of theoffence.
“The principal Magistrate, Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi, whileinteracting with the juvenile called Incharge JKEDI and Principal ITI to discussthe possibilities to reform the child (who is an adult now). The Juvenileexpressed his desire in procuring a commercial vehicle for which he is having avalid driving license,” the magazine story illustrates.
“The Incharge JKEDI agreed and assured the board that theywill provide him a loan at a very low rate of interest so that he can purchaseone vehicle to earn his livelihood.” The person has now become a responsiblecitizen.
In another case, the guardian of the Juvenile offender movedan application expressing the child offender’s desire to appear in class 7thexamination. The Board accepted the application and subsequently the juvenilewas released on leave for 15 days.
He was then handed over to his father from an observationhome. In the meanwhile, the board directed probation officer to look after thejuvenile during the period he remains out and file a factual report.
The juvenile secured 50 percent marks despite beingallegedly involved in serious offences. Recently, he was bailed out by JJBBaramulla on the basis of his good conduct during the probation period.
Similarly, in another case father of a child offender whohad allegedly committed a murder moved an application before the principalmagistrate requesting he be allowed to appear in class 8th examination. Themagistrate asked the in-charge examiner to conduct the examination of thejuvenile inside the observation home at Harwan.
The juvenile offender secured 80 percent marks and has nowrestarted schooling. The LPO has been directed to ensure proper care of thechild and maintain a constant vigil on him.
In one more important case, a juvenile was made to record aconfessional video by a national TV news channel. The LCPO suo moto filed acomplaint before the principal magistrate.
The news channel uploaded the videographed confessionalstatement on social media websites. The board took strong cognizance of thematter and passed orders to block and remove the video from all websites andasked the operator to appear before the board.
The news channel filed a written unconditional apology tothe board which convicted and penalized it for gross violation of the JJ Actand warned against such violation in future.