Case study on compliance of juvenile justice (care and protection of children) rules, 2007 by juvenile institutions in Kolkata

One of the integral components of the juvenile-justice scheme in India is the institutions where juveniles in conflict with law, and juveniles in need of care and protection, are housed till the pendency of their cases. Chapter IV of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Rules (JJR), 2007 prescribes the standard of care to be adopted by these institutions for the reform of these children.

The authors of this essay visited the four juvenile institutions in Kolkata: D (juvenile observation and special home for boys), K (juvenile shelter home for boys), Su (children's home cum observation home cum aftercare home for girls) and SH (children's home cum special, observation and aftercare home for girls)¹ and, through interviews with the children residing at these homes, as well as interviews with officials involved in the day-to-day running of the shelter homes, along with personal observation of the conditions prevailing at these homes, have attempted to comprehensively examine the level of compliance of Chapter IV of the Juvenile Justice Rules at these homes. By focusing on the areas of health care, education, nutrition, infrastructure and the treatment of the children by the shelter home authorities, we determine that there is still a large gap between the letter of the law and its implementation, which leaves a lot to be desired, and rather than rehabilitating these children, these homes create conditions which make it even more difficult to integrate these children into mainstream society.

Note: This essay is based on empirical research conducted in 2014, when the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was in force. That Act has now been repealed and replaced by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. This essay makes reference to section 68 of the 2000 Act, which has an analogous provision in section 110 of the 2015 Act. (Both deal with the power to make rules.) The essay also makes reference to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2009, which are still in force.

Please also note that all observations expressed in the article are the authors’ personal observations, and they own responsibility for the veracity of the facts referred to herein.