THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, January 30: The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has launched a campaign to identify juveniles in prisons and render them legal assistance. It is part of a programme, launched pan India by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
The campaign starting from January 28 will go on till February 14.
There are three para legal volunteers here in the central jail Daltonganj who are convicts themselves, said DLSA (District Legal Services Authority) Secretary Arpit Srivastav.
One of the three convict para legal volunteers is a woman. They are assisting in the identification of the juveniles for legal assistance.
Arpit Srivastav said, “The campaign is to identify juvenile undertrial or convict both. Juvenility is to be determined at the time of occurrence of the offence or at the time of the conviction.”
The date of the occurrence of the offence or arrest is the cut-off of the juvenile.
Undertrials or convicts aged between 18 to 22, as per the prison record on the date of the admission, are to be screened with a view to ascertaining their being potential minor on the date of the occurrence of the offence or conviction.
The pan India campaign is to identify if application for claim of juvenility either by the undertrial or convict is pending or not filed. The tag juvenile on the date of the occurrence of the offence remains intact.
The campaign is again to identify if an application for claim of juvenility and consequential transfer to a child care institution read Juvenile Justice Board is pending or not filed.
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Once identified that an undertrial or a convict was a juvenile on the date of the occurrence of the offence or conviction, the follow up action is to be taken up like filing of necessary applications / petitions before appropriate Courts and consequential transfer to Juvenile justice Board.
The issue of the potential juveniles in prison is raised all over the country asking for correction of juveniles not in the prison but in the observation home under the Juvenile Justice Board.
The situation arises just because there is no proper age verification at the time of arrest.
Following absence of proper age verification at the time of arrest a juvenile is subjected to the hardship of the Adult Criminal Justice System.
This campaign is to reduce it or contain it to a larger extent. Juvenility is to be determined at the time of the occurrence of the offence or at the time of the arrest or of the conviction.
The Delhi High Court on Court on its Own Motion Vs Deptt of Women and Child Development and Ors in its order dated 11.5.2012 in WP(C) 8889 of 2011 has mandated that ‘if a prisoner from appearance, appears to be juvenile and the police officer has belief that the prisoner is a juvenile, he shall be produced before the JJB instead of the criminal court.’
The ground reality is different. A police officer hardly strains himself to fix a person just a juvenile on a person’s mere look or appearance.
A police officer requesting anonymity said, “We can’t on our own take the risk of describing a person arrested as a juvenile as then we will be straightway accused of showing favour and relief in lieu of some material gains made by us.”
It has been found that a 17-year old person is conveniently passed on as of 18 by police as the person fails to provide his age proof either on the date of the occurrence of the offence or at the time of the arrest as well.
The DLSA Secretary said, “One has the right to produce a birth certificate issued by the school. The birth certificate may also be of the municipality or the municipal corporation.”
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However, if there is no birth certificate either of the school or of the municipality etc, then there is a medical age determination test. Ossification test is one medical determination to age.
A person in prison has to prove his juvenility by his birth certificate and whereupon it’s not available then age determination is to be done medically.
Arpit Srivastav said, “Section 94 of the JJ Act 2015 has outlined the method and measure in regard to the determination of the age in claim to the juvenility.”
Srivastav said, “The DLSA Palamu will share the outcome of this campaign for identifying juveniles in prison for legal assistance once the campaign gets over by February 14.”
