Sampurna Behrua vs. Union of India & others
This petition brings to fore the non-implementation of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, 2000. The JJ Act was passed as a uniform set of guidelines to ensure the correct treatment of juvenile offenders. The Constitution of India lays the responsibility on the State to ensure that all the needs of children are met and that their basic human rights are fully protected. Other rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as right to live with dignity, the right to fair trial and to free and compulsory primary education for children below the age of 14 are also violated due to the non implementation of the said Act.
Case Details and Status
Prior to 1989, India did not have a uniform Juvenile Justice Act. But after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, India implemented a uniform law. Observing certain shortcomings in the 1989 enactment, the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act was passed in 2000 as a uniform set of guidelines to ensure the correct treatment of juvenile offenders, thereby addressing the perceived problems of the 1989 Act. Unfortunately, the lack of implementation of the JJ Act 2000 has left the status quo unchanged.
The petition outlines a detailed study in twelve states of India (Punjab, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Manipur, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Uttaranchal.), which highlighted that the JJ Act was not being implemented. Most of these states failed to establish the following mandatory provisions: the establishment of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), Child Welfare Committees (CWC) and special Juvenile Police Units. The JJ Act also requires State Governments to establish Observation Homes, Special Homes and Children’s Homes, which are to provide facilities of care, treatment, education, training and ultimately restore them to a family environment. The importance of these provisions is that they afford protection of the rights of young offenders.
The attitude and ignorance of the State towards the care, protection and rehabilitation of neglected or delinquent juveniles was appalling. In 2005 HRLN filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, seeking the strict implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act of 2000.
The following recommendations were put forth to ensure that the rights of juvenile offenders are not violated, and to rehabilitate the offenders:
- That Police and government officials ensure the implementation of the JJ Act in the respondent states
- Officials who fail to implement the Act should face due punishment
- Mandatory institutions be set up, within the specified time frame
- To provide basic amenities in the homes to child offenders
- Respondent States to involve reputed NGOs in the implementation of the orders
This petition seeks to enforce the implementation of the JJ Act, 2000 with the aid of the recommendations put forth.
Upon learning that only four states (Gujarat, Orissa, Manipur, and Uttarancha) have complied with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Supreme Court in an order dated 3.1.2007 directed all the states to produce responses explaining their failures and the steps being taken to address them. As usual, the states hedged and delayed their reporting, perhaps because no further attempts were made to implement the act. Fed up, the Supreme court issued an order on 13.12.2007 to all the Chief Secretaries of the non-compliant states to hasten the responses. Hopefully, this will get all of the shameful facts before the court's attention and further progress can be made.
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