50,000 children still await justice as juvenile boards battle 55% case backlog: Report
New Delhi (PTI): More than 50,000 children in conflict with the law remain stuck in a slow-moving justice system where over half the cases are pending at 362 Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), according to a new India Justice Report (IJR) study released on Thursday.
Despite ten years of the Juvenile Justice Act coming into force, glaring gaps, ranging from missing judges, under-inspected homes, absent data systems and wide state-level disparities continue to afflict justice delivery, the study said.
The report, Juvenile Justice and Children in Conflict with the Law: A Study of Capacity at the Frontlines, shows that as of October 31, 2023, 55 per cent of 100,904 cases before JJBs were pending, with pendency ranging from 83 per cent in Odisha to 35 per cent in Karnataka.
Though 92 per cent of India's 765 districts have constituted JJBs, one in four boards operates without a full bench. On average, each JJB carried a backlog of 154 cases.
The findings come against the backdrop of 40,036 juveniles being apprehended in 31,365 cases under the IPC and special laws in 2023, with three-fourths of them aged between 16 and 18, according to Crime in India data.
Yet, a decade after decentralising juvenile justice architecture, the study says systemic limitations continue to block timely support and rehabilitation.
The report highlights that 30 per cent of JJBs do not have an attached legal services clinic. Fourteen states and Jammu and Kashmir lack places of safety, vital for housing children above 18.
Oversight of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) is also falling short – across 166 homes in these states, only 810 of the mandated 1,992 inspections were carried out.
Data from 292 districts further show there are just 40 child care homes exclusively for girls.
The study flagged the near absence of publicly available national-level data on juvenile justice.
With no equivalent of the National Judicial Data Grid for JJBs, the IJR team had to file more than 250 RTI applications. The response pattern itself pointed to weak transparency — of over 500 replies received from 28 states and two Union Territories, 11 per cent were rejected, 24 per cent received no response, 29 per cent were merely transferred, and only 36 per cent provided usable information.
Calling the findings a warning sign, Maja Daruwala, chief editor of the India Justice Report, said the juvenile justice system relies on a regular flow of information from authorities.
But the attempt to gather basic data showed that "authorised oversight bodies neither receive it routinely nor insist on it. Scattered and irregular data makes supervision episodic and accountability hollow," she said.
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Snowfall blocks two key roads providing alternative connectivity to Kashmir
Rajouri/Jammu (PTI): Traffic on the Mughal and Sinthan Top roads, which provide alternate connectivity to Kashmir, was temporarily suspended on Sunday due to light to moderate snowfall in the high-altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
However, traffic on the 270-kilometre Jammu-Srinagar national highway -- the only all weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country -- was plying as usual despite intermittent rains that ended the over one-and-a-half months long dry spell, they said.
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The Mughal road, which connects the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri with south Kashmir's Shopian, was closed for traffic as a precautionary measure after more than three inches of snow was recorded at Peer Ki Gali on Sunday afternoon.
A group of three tea vendors are left stranded on the road and efforts are on to evacuate them to safety, officials said.
After they were trapped in the snow, the vendors made passionate appeals through video messages urging the authorities to rescue them. The Border Roads Organisation has taken up snow clearance work and is trying to reach the stranded persons, officials said.
The Sinthan Top road, which connects Kishtwar and Doda districts in Jammu with south Kashmir's Anantnag, was also closed after moderate snowfall in the higher reaches.
Both the mountainous roads usually remain closed for several months due to heavy snowfall during winter.
