Child Protection Policy And Juvenile Justice Rules Likely To Be Notified This Year: Assam Govt Tells High Court

The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday once again recorded its hope and trust upon the Assam Government to notify draft Child Protection Policy as well as Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules at the earliest.

The division bench comprising Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury further directed the State Government to submit a report regarding:

1. Whether Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) have been constituted in each and every district of Assam;
2. Whether it is properly constituted in accordance with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act;
3. The last date of tenure of the various Members of the JJBs.

“In the said report, it shall also be indicated if the JJBs where the proceedings of districts where no JJBs are constituted are taken up, whether such a process is backed by any notification of the State Govt. so as to empower the JJBs of a different district to act as a JJB for the other district,” the Court noted.

During the hearing of the PIL filed by Bachapan Bachao Andolan, the Government Advocate appearing for the State submitted that the State Child Protection Policy as well as the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules is likely to be settled and notified by the year end.

The Counsel appearing for the petitioner and the Standing Counsel for the High Court submitted that in several judicial districts, the JJBs have not been constituted and the child in conflict with law are subjected to jurisdiction of nearest JJBs.

Therefore, the Court asked the State to inform it about the above-mentioned issues by a way of a report.

“Before parting with the records, we once again record our hope and trust that the State Govt. shall do the needful to notify the draft Child Protection Policy as well as Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules at the earliest by expediting the consultation process,” the Court said.

The matter is listed again on December 18.

Case Title: Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. The State of Assam & 4 Ors.

Case No.: PIL/60/2019

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