[Juvenile Justice] Delhi High Court seeks data of children sent from adult jails to care homes

The Delhi High Court has issued a slew of directions for the implementation of rehabilitative schemes for juveniles in conflict with the law who are either lodged or have come out of care homes in the city [Court on its own motion v. State]..A Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani was acting on a suo motu case in which it was informed that all cases of petty offences against juveniles, pending for the period between last six months and a year, had been disposed of and as on December 10, 2021, the pendency stood at “nil”.The Court ordered the Delhi government to furnish the list all such children who were transferred from adult jails to juvenile homes in the last five years..Following a previous High Court order, 91 such cases had been terminated and Individual Care Plans (ICP) had been called in these matters.After hearing the Amicus Curiae and other representatives concerned, the Court referred to the schemes under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) and Juvenile Justice Rules (JJ Rules), in its persistent efforts to streamline the functioning of the juvenile justice delivery system..Care Plans and Rehabilitation.The Court underlined that the scheme provides that every child in conflict with the law, should have an ICP. Besides, when a child is remanded to a juvenile home, a rehabilitation-cum-placement officer is required to draw-up a rehabilitation card under the JJ scheme to monitor the child’s progress based on the ICP and his rehabilitation card.“We direct that pursuant to drawing-up an ICP and a rehabilitation card, every Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) seized of an enquiry shall call for the ICP and the rehabilitation card from the Superintendent of the home concerned and review the progress of the child as reflected in such card, on a quarterly basis, i.e., once every three months, and issue necessary directions if it is found that the ICP as contained in the rehabilitation card is not being implemented effectively,” the Bench held..Post-release Plan.All JJBs were ordered to ensure that a post-release plan, is drawn-up two months before a child is due to leave a child care institution, recommending the aftercare for such child, and such plan is placed before the JJB concerned and the child is produced before it two months before release.“At that stage, the JJB must vet the post-release plan and issue necessary directions for its modification, monitoring and implementation, as may be required in a given case in compliance of the requirements of the JJ rules,” the Court directed..Since Delhi has 11 judicial districts, 11 District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs) were required to be appointed by the State. However, it was pointed out that currently only four DCPOs have been appointed.To immediately remedy the shortfall, the Court directed compliance with the JJ Act and JJ Rules, ordering the Delhi government to appoint seven additional DCPOs for the remaining districts within six weeks from the date of the release of its order..List of Care Homes to be given to JJBs.It came the Bench’s notice that the JJBs did not have formal and complete information on the facilities in Delhi providing informal education and vocational training to children in childcare homes.To address this issue, the Court directed compilation or creation of a directory by the Delhi government in tandem with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Delhi State Legal Services Authority. The list should have the name, address and other particulars of all institutions, governmental or non-governmental, offering such training in Delhi.“Such directory be provided to all JJBs, to facilitate the JJBs in issuing necessary directions to the most appropriate institution/facility to provide informal education and vocational training to delinquent children housed in child care institutions in Delhi,” it stated..List of children transferred from jails to care homes.In order to better understand the “systemic flaws” leading to such juveniles ending-up in adult jails, the Court sought the number of such juveniles who were transferred from adult jails to juvenile jails.“We direct the Govt. of NCT of Delhi to furnish to this court, the number of children/juveniles, who were transferred from adult jails to juvenile justice homes/child care institutions in the last 05 years, with the details of the numbers found in Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli jails respectively,” the order said.The Court asked for dates of when such children were admitted in jails and the date they were transferred from adult jails to juvenile justice homes and the offences against them.The matter will be taken up next on January 21, 2022..Senior Advocate H S Phoolka served as Amicus Curiae along with advocate Shilpa Dewan.Advocate Nandita Rao appeared for the State whereas advocates Prabhsahay Kaur and Lavanya Kaushik represented Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Advocates RHA Sikander and Jayant Bhatia appeared for the DCPCR. Member-Secretary DSLSA Kanwal Jeet Arora appeared in person. Advocates Ripudaman Bhardwaj and Khushagra Kumar represented the Union of India. Anu Grover Baliga, secretary, Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee appeared with advocates Harsh Prabhakar and Harjeet Singh Sachdeva for the committee..[Read Order]