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PETITIONER: SUPREME COURT LEGAL AID COMMITTEE

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT17/03/1989

BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH VENKATACHALLIAH, M.N. (J)

CITATION:  1989 AIR 1278            1989 SCR  (2)  60  1989 SCC  (2) 325        JT 1989 (1)   549  1989 SCALE  (1)651

ACT:             Juvenile Justice Act, 1986: Sections 2(e), 5, 9, 10, 11         and 62.             Juveniles     detained    in    regular     jails--Exa ct         number--Determination    of--Setting    up    of    juveni le         courts--Establishment      of--Juveniles      homes--Speci al         homes--Observation homes--Framing of statutory rules--Dire c-         tions of Supreme Court.             Children--Need protective umbrella of society for bett er         growth and development--Responsibility of society--Paramou nt         obligation  of those who are in charge of the governance of         the country.

HEADNOTE:             Pursuant  to the directions made by the  Supreme  Cour t,         with  a  view  to providing relief  to  delinquent  childr en         detained in jails, in 1986 the District Judges of the enti re         country supplied the particulars of under trial and convic t-         ed  children found in regular jails within  their  jurisdi c-         tion. With the passage of time and the coming into force of         the  Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 it became necessary  to  g et         fresh detailed reports for updating the information.         The Supreme Court issued directions and,             HELD:  1.  Children require the protective  umbrella of         society for better growth and development as they are not

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in         a position to claim their entitlement--to attention, growi ng         up,  food, education and the like. It is the  responsibili ty         of  the society and is one of the paramount  obligations of         those  who are in charge of governance of the country  tod ay         to attend to the children to make them appropriate  citize ns         of tomorrow. [64A-B]             2.  Every District Judge is directed to report  to  th is         Court  the  figures  as to the exact  number  of  delinque nt         juveniles still detained in regular jails and whether  juv e-         nile courts, juvenile homes, special homes and  observatio ns         homes as provied in the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 have be en         established. [62H; 63A]         61             2.1  A  Senior Advocate of this Court  is  appointed as         Commissioner  to visit the jails in the three  Districts of         the  State of Bihar, viz. Deogarh, Patna and  Bhagalpur  a nd         collect  the necessary particulars of  juvenile  delinquen ts         housed in those jails and report to this Court. He shall be         provided  all facilities by the State Government  and  sha ll         also   be  entitled  to  reimbursement  of   his   expense s.         [64H;65A-B]             3. Section 62 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 empowe rs         the State Government to make rules to carry out the purpos es         of the Act. The scheme of the Act is such that it cannot be         properly  enforced unless appropriate rules are  framed  a nd         brought  into force. The District Judges while making  the ir         reports  shall also indicate whether rules have been  fram ed         and whether such rules are already in force. Counsel for t he         respective  States  are  directed to inform  this  Court by         written  Memorandum about the framing of rules and  bringi ng         them  into  force in the--respective States. If  such  rul es         have not been framed in any State, such State or States  a re         directed to frame the same and bring them into force witho ut         any further delay. [63C-E]             4. For facilitating the monitoring of the implementati

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on         of  the  Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, a  group  of  nominat ed         advocates  is  entrusted  with the work of  making  a  dra ft         Scheme  and placing it before the Court for  its  consider a-         tion. [64D-E]             5.  The Registry of this Court should  have  appropria te         funds  to meet the expenses from time to time. The Union of         India  is directed to deposit a sum of Rs.50,000 while  ea ch         of the States of Bihar and West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh is         directed to deposit a sum of Rs.15,000. [65B-C]

JUDGMENT:             ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Criminal) No.  1 45         1 of 1985.         (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. )             R.K. Jain and Yogeshwar Prasad, R.K. Khanna, R.K.  Bha tt         and Dalveer Bhandari for the Petitioner.             V.C.  Mahajan,  Tapas Ray, A.S.  Nambiar,  S.B.  Bhasm e,         Kapil  Sibal,  R.B. Misra, A. Subhashini, Y.P. Rao,  Ms. S.         Janani, Ms. Urmila Kapur, D.K. Sinha, J.R. Dass, P.K.  Man o-         har, Ms. S. Vasudevan, M. Veerappa, Uma Nath, R.K. Mehta, V.         Krishnamurthy,  A.S. Bhasme, K.R. Nambiar, B.D Sharma,  Ka i-         lash Vasudev, D.N.         62         Mukherjee, D. Goburdhan, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, T.V.S.N. Char i,         Mahabir  Singh, Probir Chowdhry, M.N. Shroff, A. Subba  Ra o,         R.S.  Suri, G. Probhakar, K. Ram. Kumar, S.K.  Bhattachary a,         L.R.  Singh, A.K. Sanghi, C.V. Subba Rao, R.  Venkataraman i,         Salman  Khurshid, Gopal Singh, Mrs. Vimla Sinha and Mrs. H.         Wahi for the Respondents.         The following Order of the Court was delivered:         ORDER             This  writ  petition  filed in 1985 has  been  heard on         different  occasions and several orders and directions  ha ve         been made from time to time with a view to providing  reli ef         to  delinquent  children detained in jails.  On  August  2 9,         1988, this Court made an order (1988 4 SCC 226) wherein so me         such directions have been excerpted and it is not  necessa ry

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       to make any detailed reference to those directions now.             In  1986  the District Judges of the entire  country in         response  to  the directions made by  this  Court  supplie d,         inter  alia,  the particulars of under trial  and  convict ed         children  found  in regular jails  within  their  respecti ve         jurisdiction. On the basis of the said reports it was  fou nd         that  in Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Punjab and West  Bengal,  t he         number of such children in regular jails was 64, 247, 60, 63         and 437 respectively. There was no such child in any regul ar         jail  of Gujarat but in varying numbers not exceeding 30 to         35  they were found in other States. Thereafter some of  t he         States have filed affidavits indicating release from custo dy         or transfer of such children from jails and have stated th at         the position at present is very different and the number is         either nil or negligible.             With  the lapse of two years’ time since such  reporti ng         was  done  there  is every likelihood of a  change  in  th at         position.  Even  otherwise, in the  intervening  period  t he         Juvenile  Justice Act, 53 of 1986, (hereinafter referred to         as the ’Act’) has come into force in the whole of the  cou n-         try excepting the State of Jammu & Kashmir with effect  fr om         2.10.1987.  The  Act  provides for setting  up  of  juveni le         homes,  special  homes and observation homes  by  the  Sta te         Governments. Chapter IV provides for dealing with delinque nt         juveniles.  In this back-drop it is necessary to  get  fre sh         detailed  reports  from the District Judges and  update  t he         figures  as to the exact number of delinquent juveniles, as         defined  in  s. 2(a) of the Act, still detained  in  regul ar         jails. At the same time it is necessary that a report as to         whether juvenile         63          Courts  as required under s. 5 of the Act have been set up         and juvenile homes, special homes and observation homes ha ve         been established as required by ss. 9, 10, and 11 should be         obtained.  Every District Judge is, therefore,  directed

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by         this order to report within 4 weeks from today to the Regi s-         try  of this Court through the Registrar of the  appropria te         High Court as to the exact position obtaining on 28.2.  19 89         in regard to the particulars indicated above. We would  li ke         to place on record that on the earlier occasion response to         directions  by  this Court had taken more than  six  month s;         repetitive adjournments had become necessary and  complian ce         was effected by indicating coercive steps. We hope and tru st         there would be no repetition.             Section 62 of the Act empowers the State Governments to         make rules to carry out the purposes of the Act. The  sche me         of  the  Act  is such that it cannot  be  properly  enforc ed         unless  apropriate rules are framed and brought into  forc e.         Counsel appearing before us for the different States are n ot         in  a position to make a definite statement that the  Stat es         they  represent  have  framed rules and  brought  them  in to         force. We, therefore, direct that the District Judges  whi le         making their reports shall also indicate whether rules  ha ve         been  framed  and whether such rules are already  in  forc e.         Counsel appearing before us are also directed to inform  t he         Registry  by written memorandum about the framing  of  rul es         and  bringing them into force in the respective  States. If         such rules have not been framed in any State, by this  ord er         we  direct  such  State or States to frame the  same  on or         before  7th  of  April, 1989 and to bring  them  into  for ce         without any further delay thereafter.         Section 2(h) defines ’juvenile’ to mean:         "a  boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years  or  a         girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years."         Official  reports  indicate that 35 to 40 per  cent  of  t he         total  population  of the country would be  covered  by  t he         definition. As such about 30 crores of young boys and  gir ls         come  within  the purview of the Act. There can  be  no  t wo         opinions  that these children of today are the  citizens of

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       tomorrow’s India and the country’s future would  necessari ly         depend  upon their proper hygiene--physical and mental.  T he         problem is, therefore, gigantic; at the same time, there is         demand  for immediate attention. Several  counsel  appeari ng         before  us have told us and we agree with their  submissio ns         that  unless the importance of the matter is  properly  pe r-         ceived and the response is adequate both in         64         regard to sufficiency of actions and immediacy of attentio n,         the purpose of the Act cannot be fulfilled. Children requi re         the  protective  umbrella of society for better  growth  a nd         development  as  they are not in a position to  claim  the ir         entitlement--to  attention, growing up, food, education  a nd         the like. It is the responsibility of the society and is o ne         of  the paramount obligations of those who are in charge of         governance of the country today to attend to the children to         make them appropriate citizens of tomorrow.             We  are  of the view that in the setting  indicated  t he         matter perhaps requires overseeing by the Court. For coord i-         nation between the Union Government and the State Governme nt         and  between  authorities within the State, at  the  initi al         stage  and it would be in the interest of children that  t he         matter is obverseen by this Court and when the machinery is         properly  geared  the responsibility of  overseeing  may be         entrusted to the respective High Courts.             With  a  view to working out the modality  and  to  ma ke         overseeing convenient, it is necessary that a scheme  shou ld         be evolved. Counsel appearing before us have suggested  th at         a  group of advocates should be entrusted with the  work of         making a draft scheme and place it before the Court for  i ts         consideration. We accordingly nominate Messrs V.C.  Mahaja n,         Yogeshwar Prasad, R.K. Jain, Tapas Roy and Mukul Mudgal  w ho         are advocates appearing for some of the States to draw up  a         scheme  and  file  it in the Registry of the  Court  by  7 th         April, 1989.

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           As  we pointed out earlier from the reports it has  be en         found that the number of children in regular jails were  t he         highest in West Bengal and Bihar. Mr. Tapas Roy representi ng         the  State  of West Bengal relies upon  an  affidavit  fil ed         before this Court to contend that the position has  substa n-         tially  changed  subsequent to the reports  and  at  prese nt         perhaps  the number of children in regular jails  is  eith er         nil  or very small. He has personally undertaken to  colle ct         the particulars and furnish the same by way of the  memora n-         dum to the Registry on or before 7th of April, 1989. So  f ar         as the State of Bihar is concerned, Mr. Goburdhan is not in         a position to make any statement. From the analysis prepar ed         based  upon  the report of the District Judges,  it  appea rs         that there were 27 children in the District Jail of Deogar h,         about  13 in the jails at Patna and 17 in the jails at  Bh a-         galpur. We are of the view that Mr. A.S. Nambiar, Sr.  Adv o-         cate  of this Court should be appointed as  Commissioner to         visit  these jails in the three districts of Bihar and  co l-         lect the necessary particulars of juvenile delinquents         65         housed in those jails and report to this Court on or  befo re         7th  of April, 1989. He shall be provided all facilities by         the  State  Government  and its officers as  may  be  deem ed         reasonable and necessary for implementing this direction. He         shall also be entitled to reimbursement of his expenses.             It  becomes  necessary  that the  Registry  should  ha ve         appropriate  funds to meet the expenses from time  to  tim e.         We, therefore, direct that the Union of India shall  depos it         a  sum  of Rs.50,000 while each of the States of  Bihar  a nd         West  Bengal and Uttar Pradesh is directed to deposit a  s um         of Rs. 15,000. Such deposits shall be made on or before 15 th         of April, 1989. The expenses have of course to be met by a ll         the States but in due course an order directing other Stat es         to  pay to the fund and final apportionment,  if  necessar y,

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       shall be ordered.             Notice  be  issued to the learned  Attorney  General to         appear and assist the Court in this proceeding.             The directions indicated above must be worked out with in         the time frame as we are fixing the case for further heari ng         at 2.00 P.M. on 24th of April, 1989.         T.N.A.         66