PETITIONER:
SUPREME COURT LEGAL AID COMMITTEE
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT17/03/1989
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 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 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
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 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
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.
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,
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