Procedural delays keep minors at Apna Ghar

Procedural delays keep minors at Apna Ghar
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: If the police fail to file a chargesheet within 90 days of filing a first information report, a rapist or a murderer arrested and in judicial custody get bail “as a matter of right”. For a thief, this period is even less. Children in conflict with law in Goa, and lodged at an observation home, however, often remain confined in the home for months together.

This happens, despite the Juvenile Justice Act stating that the police shall complete investigations in a crime involving a minor at the earliest to ensure that the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) completes the inquiry “within 4 months”.

“Children’s rights are being constantly violated under the purview of the juvenile justice system. We have come across several cases which have been pending before the JJB since 2002. Often for petty offences an FIR is filed against a minor and they are lodged at Apna Ghar for months together. The law states that in any offence committed by a juvenile, the trial should get over in four months,” said child activist Emidio Pinto.

Confirming this, former JJB member Snehlata Bhatikar said, “This gross children’s right violation happens mainly due to the police delay in filing the chargesheet, witnesses and lawyers failing to turn up for the hearing and failure of the police and Apna Ghar authorities to serve witnesses with summons issued by the JJB.”

5 October 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition