i. State of the statutory structures for administration of juvenile justice
All the four states covered under the study have set up Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) in all the districts. However, functioning of the JJBs is plagued with huge number of pending cases. There were nearly 14,000 cases were pending before the JJBs in Madhya Pradesh as of 18 September 2012, nearly 2,500 cases in Karnataka as of 10 February 2012, and 596 cases in Himachal Pradesh by the end of 2011. Though the number of pending cases in Mizoram remains unknown, the state government stated on 6 July 2012 that pendency at the JJBs was high and number of sittings needed to be increased. The functioning of the JJBs is hampered by the lack of space. In Madhya Pradesh only 18 out of the 50 JJBs of Madhya Pradesh were sitting in the premises of the Observation Homes as of 22 November 2011 as required under the law and the rest were functioning from rented buildings.
All the four states have established Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in all the districts. The pendency before the CWCs was not very high but in Himachal Pradesh, Deputy Commissioners have been chairing the meeting of the CWCs which is not provided under the JJ(C&PC) Act. In Madhya Pradesh government and Mizoram, CWC members seldom attend the meetings.
The Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs) exist only on paper. The Inspection Committees at State, District and City level to carry out inspections of Children Homes have not been fully established in all the States.
ii. State of the institutions providing institutional care
The state of the institutions providing institutional care such as Observation Homes, Special Homes and Children’s Homes are equally deplorable.
In the Observation Homes of Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram, where there is no separation of the Observation Home and the Special Home and the juveniles are not segregated on the basis of the nature of their crimes or status of their cases. In Karnataka, in some Observation Homes, there is no segregation of the inmates on the basis of age, sex and nature of offences. For example, the Observation Home at Belgaum is running from the premises of the Children Home, Belgaum. In Madhya Pradesh, both the Observation Home and Special Home at Seoni are located in the same premises. Since no staff has been appointed for the Observation Home, Seoni, the inmates are kept at the Special Home, Seoni.
There is no overcrowding in the Observation Homes in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. However, in Mizoram, the Observation Home-cum-Special Home at Lunglei is overcrowded. The Home has a capacity to house only 10 inmates. The ACHR found that the Officer in Charge took the initiative of adding up 4 beds for the inmates as sometimes number of inmate increases. However, on many occasions, the inmates exceeded 14 and in such situations the inmates had to sleep on the floor.
The juveniles lodged at the Observation Home-cum-Special Home for Boys and Girls at Samoor Kalan, Una, Himachal Pradesh are not being provided any formal education but the juveniles are reportedly being provided training in carpentry. In Karnataka, most of the Observation Homes do not have provisions of vocational training; and teachers have not been appointed in many homes. In Madhaya Pradesh, there is no provision for education and vocational training in a number of Observation Homes.
Shortage of staff in the Observation and Special Home is common. The post of Superintendent in the lone Observation Home-Cum-Special Home at Una, Himachal Pradesh has been lying vacant since 1 July 2008. In Karnataka, in Government Observation Home, Chitradurga, only two staff out of 11 sanctioned staff were appointed as of 23.9.2011. In Madhya Pradesh, a number of crucial staff posts are found to be lying unfilled in several Observation Homes. For example, both the Observation Home and Special Home at Seoni are located in the same premises and the inmates are kept together in contravention of the JJ(C&PC) Act. The post of the Superintendent was lying vacant in the Government Observation Home for Boys, Bhopal as on 24 May 2012, in the Government Observation Home for Boys, Jabalpur as on 8 August 2012, in the Government Observation Home for Boys, Khandwa as on 23 July 2012. In Mizoram, the post of the Warden has been vacant for over 2 years at the Observation Home-cum-Special Home at Aizawl
The conditions of the Children Homes are equally deplorable. In Himachal Pradesh, at the Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home, Mashobra, Shimla district, separation of inmates is not maintained on the ground that there are no children in conflict with law sheltered in the Ashram. There is also no separation of the inmates at the Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Masli, Shimla district and at the Children Home, Sunder Nagar, Mandi district. In Karnataka, there is no segregation of the inmates on the basis of sex and nature of crime. ACHR has been informed that there were 4 juveniles (including two boys and two girls) at Children Home for Boys, Chikmagalur and no inspection took place in the Home during 2009-2011.
In Madhya Pradesh, some Children Homes run by NGOs are found to be overcrowded. As per the information provided by the Madhya Pradesh government in the 51st PAB meeting under ICPS held on 18 September 2012, Children Home in Bhopal (run by SOS Bharti, an NGO) housed 242 children against the capacity of 200; Children Home in Katna (run by Asha Kiran, an NGO) housed 52 children against the total capacity of 50, and Children Home in Hosangabad (run by Jeevodaya Society, an NGO) housed 64 children against the total capacity of 50 children. Further the government-run Children Home (Boys) in Ujjain housed 108 children against the sanctioned capacity of 100.
No formal education is imparted and many of the homes do not any teacher posted to teach the children. In Karnataka, there are only a few Children Homes where both teacher and vocational trainer have been appointed.
In Himachal Pradesh, some of the Children Homes have been found to be understaffed. A number of crucial staff positions have not been appointed/filled up such as (1) the post of Superintendent and the post of Warden at Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Sujanpur, Hamirpur district, (2) the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent at the Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home, Garli, Kangra district, and (3) the post of Assistant Superintendent (no post of Superintendent has been sanctioned) at Bal Ashram -cum-Children Home, Masli, Shimla district.
In Karnataka, majority of the Children Homes have shortage of staff as several key positions have remained vacant. At the Balakara Balamandira, Mandya, all the top posts namely Probation Officer Grade 1, Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent have been lying vacant as of 30 November 2011; the post of Guard since 25 June 2010, the post of Cook since 1 September 1998, Assistant Cook since 10 February 2011, and Physiotherapist since 25 May 1984. In Madhya Pradesh, at the Govt. Children Home for Girls, Bhopal, out of 22 sanctioned posts, six posts were lying vacant as in April 2012 including Probation Officer, Case Worker, one Vocational Trainer, Matron and Accountant. At the Govt. Children Home for Boys (Nagziri), Ujjain, the posts of Probation Officer, Chief Caretaker and Matron were vacant as of April 2012.
Regrettably, Mizoram and other States have failed to utilize the Central grants under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) sanctioned to Mizoram Rs 1,95,35,750 for the financial year 2010-11 and Rs 2,25,46,000 for the financial year 2011-12 under the IPCS. On 6 July 2012, Mizoram informed the PAB that Rs 75.25 lakhs was lying unspent from the grants of 2001-12! Further, the State government informed that it had received construction grant for 2 Government Homes in 2011 but this grant was still unutilized. Similarly, during 2011-12, the MWCD released Rs. 2,40,31,000 under ICPS to Madhya Pradesh. But the state government failed to spend Rs. 12.55 lakhs out of this amount as on 1 April 2012.
There are numerous reports of violations of the rights of the child including illegal detention and torture of children in police stations, illegal detention in prisons instead of the juvenile institutions. Several cases of illegal detention of juveniles in judicial custody and police custody have been reported from Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, thereby indicating that the JJ(C&PC) Act had little impact.
There are also reports of abuses inside the Children Homes. In Mizoram, on 13 July 2009, a 13-year-old child identified as Lalnunpuia, son of Rinsanga of Chaltlang Lily in Aizawl, was beaten to death by the officials at the Herald for Christ’s Children Home, Lungleng, Aizawl. The NHRC ordered the Mizoram government to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the mother of the deceased child on the basis of the complaint filed by the ACHR (NHRC Case No. 7/16/1/09-10).
