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The state finally finds a way to cut juvenile delinquents some slack
It’s shameful! We have been throwing 14 and 15yearolds in jail,” says a senior functionary of the Mehbooba Mufti government, citing the 85 minors now in jail for joining the wave of protests since last July when Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was slain. But that is set to change. Eight years after other states, Jammu & Kashmir is setting up institutional mechanisms to ensure assistance for children “in need of care and protection, in conflict with the law, and destitutes”.
Critical infrastructure—6,330 village child protection councils; child welfare committees and protection units in districts; special juvenile units at police stations; juvenile justice boards and three new juvenile detention centres—is briskly being put in place under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), with funding from Delhi.
Although J&K adopted the Juvenile Justice Act in 2013, it stayed on paper. “We have been laggards,” says social welfare minister Sajjad Lone, pointing to the inability of successive regimes, including the incumbent Peoples Democratic PartyBJP coalition to implement the act. It’s been Lone’s singular
LONE ADMITS THE PRACTICE OF HOLDING MINORS IN JAILS HAS MADE KASHMIRI YOUTH MORE BITTER
focus since he got the portfolio in April 2016. The urgency peaked after unrest broke out last year. In trying to restore normalcy, hundreds, including many minors, were detained in state jails.
J&K’s security establishment took much flak for the overkill. Lone admits the practice of holding minors in prisons has contributed to making Kashmiri youngsters more bitter and in instances even pushed them into militancy. But postApril, he promises, minor offenders will mandatorily have to be dealt with by special juvenile police units, consisting of an officer and two social workers, functioning outside the ambit of normal policing. “Parents will no longer have to go pleading for kids at thanas,” says an official.
ICPS mission director Talat Parvez says it is paradoxical that an entire generation of young Kashmiris has been forced to live amid strife without legal protection, while the promise of a “happy childhood” is enshrined in the J&K constitution. PDP youth wing chief Hameed Para believes it’s the most significant social intervention in decades. “The state’s engagement with Kashmiris is confined to adults,” he says. “But the Kashmir problem is about young people, those under 18.”
Consider this: each of the 6,330 child protection councils in J&K’s villages will include 11 local residents besides a government representative. Councils will have a Rs 10 lakh budget to pay for foster care for orphans and other expenses. “All children need care and protection. But children in Kashmir need it the most,” says Lone. It’s a far cry from army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s threat to treat young stonepelters like militants.