Since the juvenile delinquent, of the nearly ten month-old Delhi Gang rape case, was found guilty on charges of rape and murder, and thereby sent to a correctional home for three years, questions have been raised about the nature and process of reform that similar delinquents will undergo in the existing shelter homes and correctional homes.
The concept of “reforming” the deviant through such homes, rather than a prison, is often a misplaced argument in the country, when we delve into the actual environment of shelter homes and the range of criminality that operate within them. It is often observed that the delinquents come out as much more hardened criminals. Ideally, juvenile shelter aid institutions are meant to “provide care and protection as well as re-integration, rehabilitation and restoration of the juveniles in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.”
However, as per the recent report released by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, such shelter homes are identified as “India’s hell holes” where ‘inmates are subjected to sexual assault and exploitation, torture and ill treatment apart from being forced to live in inhuman conditions.’
From shelter homes that operate unregistered to homes where tremendous abuse take place, including sexual abuse by staff and senior inmates; the environment these children are provided with is deplorable and violate basic human rights.
A QUICK FACT CHECK FROM THE REPORT:
“Sodomy and physical assault by senior inmates at Kuldabad Juvenile Home, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh“
On 19 March 2013, a 17-year-old juvenile (name withheld) in conflict with law complained before a magistrate during inspection of the Juvenile Home, Kuldabad in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, that he was sodomised and beaten by fellow inmates over the past several days.
“Boy sodomised by guard and senior inmates at Govt-run Ashiana Home for Boys, Alipur in Delhi”
On 13 March 2013, Delhi Police informed the Delhi High Court that the security guard of a government-run children home, Ashiana Home for Boys in Alipur, Delhi was removed from the job after a seven-year-old HIV positive boy alleged that he was sexually abused by the security guard and other older inmates. The security guard identified as Amandeep use to beat up the children with stick regularly. The boy also alleged that three older inmates had sexually abused him and used to harass him daily.”
Not only that, but when it comes to the Nirbhaya’s gang-rape case, the juvenile who was sentenced to 28 months at the Majnu Ka Tila juvenile home, is expected by most child activists and children’s rights organisations to reside in one of the most mismanaged homes in the capital.
The future of the numerous children in such places is not difficult to forecast. The recent January 2013 Justice Verma Committee report, stated that with the absence of requisite infrastructure and the right environment to reform delinquents at juvenile homes, we’re only breeding more criminals.
Furthermore, the very concept of juvenile recidivism germinates, with lack of opportunities for the inmates to engage in any productive routine, resulting in such homes becoming centres for incorporating something as lethal as substance abuse.
The responsibility is therefore operating on a parallel scale: by not tagging juvenile delinquents in prison and keeping the scope for reform open. At the same time we must analyse if any possibility of reform remains in juvenile shelter homes, and if there is any potential of such institutions to promote reform and not hinder it. With increasing numbers of juvenile offenders in India, the Judiciary must look into adequate enforcement of existing mechanisms, through the recognition of the four critical parameters in juvenile justice institutions: functional Inspection Committees, registration of all juvenile justice homes, effective and functional Child Welfare Committees and separation of inmates on the basis of the nature of offences, sex and age.
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great !!!!!! very informative