Srinagar: After August 5, twelve children below the age of 18 were detained by the police, and they are now lodged at a Juvenile Observation Home (JOH) in Srinagar's Harwan, a senior government official said.
In all, there are 28 children, 27 boys and a girl, at the observation home. Among them 17 boys were detained before August 5 -- the day Home Minister Amit Shah moved two Bills in the Rajya Sabha to revoke the special status of J&K under Article 370 and bifurcate and downgrade the State into two Union Territories.
The official said the J&K administration was compiling a list of all persons detained in jails and police stations and had asked the police to submit their date of birth.
On September 20, the Supreme Court assigned Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee to inquire into allegations of illegal detention of children — some as young as 10 — by security forces in J&K.
On Thursday, Chief Justice, J&K High Court, Justice Gita visited the observation home where she inspected the facilities, related to diet, hygiene, vocational training and medical facilities, being provided to the juveniles.
She also interacted with the inmates and listened to their grievances.
Earlier, the Chairman of the J&K High Court Legal Services Committee Justice Ali Mohammad Magray had visited the observation home on September 28 following the Supreme Court's directions. This was his third visit to the observation home. There are two such homes in J&K, each in Srinagar and Jammu.
“The 17 detained at the juvenile home before the restrictions were put in place are there for offences like attempt to murder, and rape. There is no case of any illegal arrest,” the official said, adding that they have filed a status report in the J&K High Court about the juveniles."
A government press release quoted Justice Magrey that “juvenile observation homes should be to show right path to the detainees, rather than making them feel like criminals.”
The petition in the Supreme Court was filed by child rights activists Enakshi Ganguly and Shanta Sinha who raised “substantial issues and alleged detention of children.”
The petition wanted the court to direct the government to file a status report and order the Juvenile Justice Committee to monitor incidents of detention.
“With regard to the situation in J&K, there have been certain reports specific to children, which describe violations of very different kinds, ranging in seriousness from potential loss of life and liberty of the child to being emotionally and intellectually drawn into the conflict.”
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