Juvenile Delinquents Are Very Often Children In Need Of Care & Protection : Justice BV Nagarathna

Justice B. V. Nagarathna, judge of the Supreme Court, while delivering her address at the Inaugural session of the National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Children in Conflict with Law, expressed that it is imperative to acknowledge that children in conflict with law are not just offenders but in many cases are also children in need of care and protection. Juvenile delinquents, very often, are themselves victims particularly in instances of drug trade, sexual trafficking or family disputes.

The focus of this year’s consultation was on Children in Conflict with Law: Prevention, Restorative Justice, Diversion and Alternatives to Detention.

The Inaugural Session of the Consultation was graced by Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development Justice Ravindra Bhat, Judge and Chairperson of the Juvenile Justice Committee, Supreme Court, Justice B. V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court, and Ms. Cynthia McCaffrey, Representative, UNICEF India among other dignitaries.

Justice Nagarathna commenced her address by quoting, Nobel prize winning poet, Gabriela Mistral “We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’ his name is today.”

In this background, she highlighted that Juvenile delinquents are not born criminals but have succumbed as a result of victims of neglect, parental or societal. She stated that we need to envision a nation where all children are free from crime and violence and where contact of children and youth with the justice system is rare and fair. This vision is rooted in the juvenile system that supports the pro-social development of children and youth.

Justice Nagarathna talked about the principles enunciated in Section 3 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Some of them include principles of presumption of innocence, dignity and worth and family responsibility. She went on to say that it is undeniable that there is a mismatch which exists between the ideals in the Act and their implementation. This is the case especially in registered shelter home cases where absence of standards become fertile ground for grave acts of violence. To illustrate the same, she cited the State of Maharashtra v. Ramchandra Sambhaji Karanjule (Panvel Home Case).

Justice Nagarathna further cited Re Exploitation Of Children In Orphanages In State Of Tamil Nadu V/S Union Of India wherein the Supreme Court recognized the need to develop an individual child care plan and opined that governments in all states and territories must ensure that every child in every daycare center has a child care plan.

Moving forward, she stated that care, protection and rehabilitation needs of children cannot be ensured by one institution without the support from other components in the system. She elucidated “The most efficient and committed adjudicatory body cannot protect the best interest of the child without adequate casework services and institutional and community care agencies. As the best interest of the juveniles cannot be secured without adequate community support structures their integration in Juvenile Justice operations becomes a pre-condition for success. Similarly, an exhaustive after care program can achieve little if the environment or training facilities are not conducive for children’s development and rehabilitation.”

Justice Nagarathna asserted that piecemeal and fragmented measures taken for the care and welfare of the delinquent and neglected juveniles are bound to malfunction in the absence of a holistic approach to the problem of juvenile social maladjustments.

“Do the various measures taken in the realm of juvenile justice in India constitute a cohesive combination of inter-related, inter-dependent elements forming a collective entity? If not, what are the causes for this state of affairs? What are the ways of transforming a conglomeration of various juvenile justice organs into a juvenile system?”

Placing her reliance on statistics, she told that the same indicate a strong correlation between deprivation of economic resources and juvenile delinquency. Children are born into unfortune circumstances which push them into life of crime and violence. It is, therefore, imperative that an approach that is focused on deprivation, poverty, and marginalization is necessary to address the problem of juvenile delinquency.

In this context, she also spoke about the Integrated Child Development Scheme, a flagship scheme of the government, which targets care to children in these core areas however, it is only for children up to 6 years. She suggested that this approach, which is modeled to address basic needs of a child, can be extended to children up to 18 years at least. This can also tackle Juvenile delinquency by addressing the issue of depravity.

“It is disturbing to note that as per the Crime and India report published in 2020 about 85% of the apprehended juveniles lived with their parents which reflects the inherent failure of family in nurturing the future generation. Further, at least 91% of these juveniles had received primary level education. Does this reflect the failure of education system in inculcating value-based education?”

She averred that there is a need for strong and preventative measures in order to reduce the nature of these crimes. “Our curriculum needs to heavily emphasized our values of kindness, respect and empathy. Moreover, community involvement should be a crucial facet of our curriculum.”

At the end, Justice Nagarathna discussed the issue of justice and family. “The relationship between the two is important. In my view, Justice for children must begin from within the most fundamental institution in a child's life, the family”

Elucidating the same, she said that justice for children is not a concept which is limited to children when a child is in contact or conflict with law. More often, children come in conflict with the law when there are elements of neglect and discord in family life. Justice for children begins at home, but in many families, parents have no time to cater to their child’s needs or even to talk or interact with them. Many children end up in juvenile justice system as delinquents before they have been able to get help. They end up getting help through juvenile justice system as delinquents and that is what is wrong.

She concluded her address on the following note:

“A child should not have to commit a crime to get the help and attention he or she needs. A child is a child and every citizen owe a duty to a child… When the plethora of rights are created for children then the duties are on society and governmental and non-governmental organizations. Therefore, every adult citizen must take a pledge to help and assist children who need care and protection or are in conflict with law.”

The video of the event can be seen here.