New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi State Legal Service Authority (DSLSA) to furnish to it within two weeks a report on the implementation of its earlier guidelines for identifying and determining the actual age of delinquents stated to be between 18 and 21 years.
A bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul, which was dealing with various issues pertaining to the interpretation and effective implementation of certain provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, noted that in 2012 the high court had called for a report every six months from the police authorities in relation to the compliance and implementation of the directions but that was never done.
In the order passed on May 11, 2012, another bench of the high court, while dealing with the rights of juveniles in conflict with law, had laid down guidelines to prevent the incarceration of children in conflict with law — in prisons or their subjection to the adult criminal justice system.
Counsel appearing for Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and DSLSA claimed that these detailed guidelines “have been honoured almost entirely in the breach and not in the observance”.
DSLSA further informed the bench, also comprising Justice Anup J Bhambhani, that certain amendments have been proposed in the standard-form Arrest Memo for verification of the age of the arrested person, which is pending at the administrative level and is expected to be finalised soon.
The court, which was earlier informed that the NALSA ‘Scheme for Para-Legal Volunteers (Revised)’ provided for the presence of paralegal volunteers in police stations in order to apprise arrestees of their legal rights, was further told that modification in the DSLSA Scheme for Paralegal Volunteers was also under consideration.
“Accordingly, while leaving the concerned authorities to expeditiously streamline the modifications in the PLV (paralegal volunteer) scheme as also in the Arrest Memo, we direct the learned Secretary, DSLSA to furnish to this court, within two weeks from today, a report in terms of para 19 of judgment dated 11.05.2012 in W.P.(C). No. 8889/2011,” the court said in its order passed on February 10.
In December, the court had directed the Delhi government to provide information on the number of delinquent juveniles who landed in adult jails in the last five years and were subsequently sent to the child care institutions.
In response, the AAP government had said that there were a total of 800 cases of children in conflict with law/juveniles, who were detained in adult jails at Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli over the last five years and were subsequently transferred to juvenile homes.
“The question therefore is, as to whether and if so what, further directions are required from this court to streamline the process of assessing the age of an arrestee, at the very first step when the person is brought to a police station,” the court had said.
The court had earlier directed that the process of age determination of a juvenile in conflict with law shall be completed within 15 days of filing of documents and ossification test by the investigating officer of the case.
Last year, the court had ordered that all cases, where inquiries against minors in allegedly in petty offences before JJBs, are pending and remains inconclusive for over one year stand “terminated with immediate effect”.
The matter would be heard next on March 9. PTI ADS SA
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