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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Delhi CM Rekha Gupta accuses Mamata Banerjee of stalling SIR; TMC hits back
Kolkata (PTI): Alleging that her West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court to stall the SIR exercise to prevent the identification of infiltrators, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday claimed that the people of the state have made up their minds to dislodge the Trinamool Congress from power.
The TMC countered strongly, urging Gupta to "look into her own backyard" and accused her of making absurd allegations against the TMC government without checking facts.
Addressing participants at the 'Nari Sankalp Yatra' organised by the BJP's women's wing at Science City auditorium here, Gupta alleged that the "hands-off" and appeasement policies of the TMC government had allowed thousands of infiltrators to enter the state in recent years.
She claimed that this had put a strain on basic rights such as access to water, electricity, ration, education, livelihood and the right to vote for genuine citizens.
"She wants to perpetuate this and hence is trying to stall the SIR exercise, which aims at identifying and deporting infiltrators. Imagine a chief minister going to the apex court to argue against an exercise meant to ensure free and fair polls," Gupta said.
The BJP leader alleged that appeasement politics had reached an "alarming level" under the TMC regime.
Raising concerns over women's safety, she claimed that women in the state were not secure despite having a woman chief minister.
Referring to the rape-murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital, Gupta alleged that the state government had failed to respond adequately to such crimes.
She also referred to the alleged rape of a woman medic in Durgapur and another law student on a Kolkata college campus, claiming that criminals had been emboldened to commit brutalities against women.
She alleged that in crimes against women, overall crime incidents and child marriages, West Bengal remained among the top -- "a slur on a state which once led intellectual and social movements and set examples for the rest of the country," she said.
Criticising the state government's welfare initiatives, she said schemes such as Kanyashree were built on "false claims" and asserted that women needed security rather than assurances.
Accusing the state government of blocking central schemes, Gupta alleged that funds worth "lakhs of crores of rupees" had not reached the poor due to non-implementation of programmes such as Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission by the state.
"You are only interested in renaming projects and taking credit," she said.
Gupta also alleged that the education sector in the state had been adversely affected, saying several state-run schools had closed due to a shortage of teachers and that the government was opposed to the National Education Policy.
Drawing a comparison with BJP-ruled Delhi, Gupta said, "People have already voted out 'Bhaia' (a reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal). Now it is your turn to bid farewell to 'Didi'." Calling upon women to resist what she termed "strong-arm tactics", she urged them to assert their strength, invoking the imagery of Goddess Durga.
"Bengal has the right to live with dignity, and women have the right to live with dignity," she added.
Reacting to Gupta's allegations, West Bengal Women and Child Welfare minister Shashi Panja accused her of making "absurd allegations" against the Trinamool Congress government ahead of elections.
Panja alleged that during Gupta's tenure in Delhi, several incidents had raised serious concerns, including reports of missing young women and a blast near the Red Fort.
She also criticised the air pollution situation in the national capital, claiming that people were struggling to breathe.
The TMC leader said that despite being in power for a year, Gupta was making "tall claims" instead of addressing key issues in Delhi.
Panja further alleged that the Delhi CM visited West Bengal during elections to "peddle false allegations" against the state government.
Rebutting Gupta, the TMC said in a post on X said, "Madam why did you go off-script again? For your edification, here are the cold, hard facts: In total cases of crimes (IPC + SLL), Bengal ranks a respectable 15th, far safer than BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, which languish near the bottom."
"In overall crime rate, Bengal sits comfortably at 28th. Who's second? Your own Delhi. Double Engine Gujarat and Haryana grab 4th and 5th as top-tier crime havens," the TMC said.
"In child marriage, Assam again takes the shameful pole position. And yet you dare lecture Bengal? Stop embarrassing yourself, stop the hypocrisy, and maybe fix the rotting mess in your own backyard before pointing fingers at a state that's outperforming your disasters on every key metric," the TMC countered.
