It has been more than 48 hours and the police are yet to hand over the custody of the juvenile, who was held in Jammu bus stand bomb case, to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Jammu.
On Friday, theselection-cum-oversight committee (SCOC), the apex body for monitoring andevaluation of the Juvenile Justice Act, had asked the police to hand over theboy to the JJB.
SCOC chairperson justiceHasnain Masoodi said, “The JJB Jammu has called the police and asked them tohand over the custody of the juvenile but the police are contradicting theirown statement and saying the suspected boy is not a juvenile.”
He added: “The IGP Jammuin a press conference confessed that the boy is a juvenile and now he is sayingwe are yet to ascertain whether the boy is a juvenile or not. But we areadamant in getting the custody of the juvenile as his school certificateclearly says that he is a minor. I have also taken up this matter with ADGP andhe has assured that no violation of the Juvenile Justice Act will take place.”
On Thursday, a grenade washurled at the Jammu bus stand, killing two persons and injuring 31 others.
The IGP Jammu, who held apress conference after claiming to have cracked the case, said, “Based on theoral testimony of the witnesses and the CCTV footages, the police were able toidentify a suspect who was wearing a jeans jacket and carrying a red rucksack.”
The police also named theminor.
According to the JuvenileJustice Act, “As soon as a juvenile in under the charge of the special juvenilepolice unit or the designated police officer who shall produce the juvenilebefore the board without any loss of time, but within a period of 24 hours ofhis apprehension, excluding the time necessary for the journey, from the placewhere the juvenile was apprehended, to the board.”
The Act further says,”Provided that in no case, a juvenile in conflict with law shall be placed in apolice lock-up or lodged in a jail.”
The family of thejuvenile, however, said they are clueless about how their son travelled to theplace “within a few hours.”