The piling up of pending cases with 27 Juvenile Justice Board and child welfare committees has become a major concern for the judiciary in Assam. In what came to light in a status report released in a conclave on juvenile, with special focus on children in conflict with law, over 2,100 cases are pending before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) till March 2016. The JJB, Nagaon, has the highest number of such pending cases, followed by Kokrajhar and Sonitpur, the status report which was released in presence of Chief Justice of Gauhati high court revealed.
Chief Justice Ajit Singh, however, expressed his concern over the number of pending cases dealing with children in conflict with the law. “It is certainly a matter of concern. Although the statistics are not alarming, things may become so if the issues related to fast disposal of cases are not addressed now,” he said.
The poorest performance of Child Welfare Committee was of Kamrup Metro where over 87 cases are pending for disposal followed by Sibsagar 52 and Sonitpur 46 pending cases.
The report also stated that administration of juvenile justice remains a major concern, primarily because of the shortage of observation homes.
Another finding suggested that majority of the children caught on the wrong foot till 2014 in Assam lived with their parents-guardians and only a few of them were homeless.
Further, of the 553 juveniles in conflict with law, majority of these families had annual income below Rs 25,000 (418) while the annual income of the family of 108 of them was stated to be between Rs 25000 to Rs 50,000.
The two-days long conclave, which started on Saturday will mainly focus on different aspects of children in conflict with law under the juvenile justice system of India.
Justice Madan B Lokur, judge, Supreme Court of India, who was the chief guest said that for protection of child rights, efforts from society and every individual was required.
The conclave is also attended by more than 180 participants, that included district and sessions judges and principal magistrates of the juvenile justice boards of the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, senior police officers from the districts of Assam, juvenile police units, district legal-cum-probation officers of district child protection units, officials from the social welfare departments of the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and other stake-holders.
