HC terminates inquiries against juveniles in petty offences pending for over 1 year

The Delhi High Court has “terminated with immediate effect” all cases, where inquiries against minors in alleged petty offences before the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), are pending and have remained inconclusive for over one year in the national capital.

New Delhi:In a significant order, the Delhi High Court has “terminated with immediate effect” all cases, where inquiries against minors in alleged petty offences before the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), are pending and have remained inconclusive for over one year in the national capital.

The court passed the order keeping in view the mandate of Section 14 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) which says that the inquiry against a child who has allegedly committed a petty offence shall conclude in four months from the date of the first production before the board unless the period is extended for a maximum of two months.

The provision says that if the inquiry remains inconclusive, such proceedings shall stand terminated.

Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani said, “We are passing these directions ex debito justiciae, to correct an error in the judicial dispensation, since we believe there is no justification in keeping such matters pending any longer.”

“In all cases alleging petty offences against children/juveniles, where the inquiry has been pending and remains inconclusive for longer than one year, regardless of whether the subject child/juvenile has been produced before the JJB, all such inquiries shall stand terminated with immediate effect; a formal order closing all such matters shall be passed by the JJBs in each file within two weeks from the date of this order, and any children/juveniles detained in relation to such inquiries, shall be released immediately without waiting for recording the formal orders.

“In issuing this direction we take note of the fact that when a report/ final report is filed alleging a petty offence, it is the State's own case, that the subject is a child or juvenile,” the bench said in its order which was passed on September 29 and made available on Friday.

The court was informed by the DCPCR that as of June 30 this year, 795 cases pertaining to petty offences committed by juveniles were pending before the six JJBs here for a period between six months and one year and 1108 such cases are pending for more than one year.

“… meaning thereby that some 1903 petty cases are pending, which section 14 of the JJ Act mandates should stand terminated. Also, the data shows, that the pendency figures for petty offences have increased by 44 per cent in just the last six months,” it said, adding that the large pendency is a result of a flawed understanding of the statutory dispensation.

The bench was dealing with various issues pertaining to the interpretation and effective implementation of some provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 and considering the nature of the issues flagged, had widened the scope of the proceedings to address the matters which were critical to the administration of juvenile justice.

One of the issues raised was that of overlong pendency of a sizeable number of cases relating to ‘petty offences' committed by juvenile delinquents, which are in fact required to ‘stand terminated' as per section 14 of the JJ Act, it said.

Petty offences include those crimes for which the maximum punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment up to three years.

The court also directed that the child must be produced before the JJB within a period of 24 hours of his becoming a subject of processes under the JJ Act.

In the cases against juveniles who are alleged to have committed petty offences, where inquiries are pending for between six months and one year, the bench directed the State to apprise it of the number of such cases pending in each JJB in Delhi along with the date of institution of the inquiry and the date of the first production in each case, within 10 days from the date of this order for the passing of appropriate directions.

The court also made it clear that the termination of inquiries as per its directions would not deter the preparation and implementation of requisite rehabilitation and social reintegration plans as contemplated under the Act.

The court was informed by the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee counsel that the process of age determination itself takes substantial time due to which the matters remain pending before the JJBs for the period even longer than the maximum of six months time.

The counsel also pointed out that in the past several months, by reason of the truncated functioning of courts resulting from the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, juveniles were not being produced before the JJBs at all, either in-person or through video-conferencing.

Since it was understood that the time of four months stipulated in section 14 would begin to run only after the date of the first production of the child before the JJB, hundreds of matters relating even to petty offences have been languishing at various stages for much longer than four months, the counsel said.

It was submitted that most children who are implicated in petty offences are not apprehended by the police, or if apprehended, are almost immediately handed over to the care and custody of the parents or guardians and therefore, the mere pendency of an inquiry does not operate to the child's detriment.

The court, however, said this position was “completely unacceptable” and added that even the mere pendency of an inquiry against a minor is certainly “stigmatic” and “impacts the dignity of the child” and this situation must not be allowed to continue, especially when it is plainly in the teeth of the provisions of section 14.

PTI