Assam to have child protection policy, juvenile justice rules soon: Govt tells HC

Assam’s child protection policy and the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) rules are likely to be settled and notified by the end of this year, the state government informed the Gauhati High Court on Tuesday.

Senior advocate D Nath informed the same to a division bench of justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Arun Dev Choudhury during a hearing on a petition filed in 2019 by Bachpan Bacaho Andolan, a child rights body with headquarters in Delhi.

Assam is yet to draft and notify the policy and rules although the Juvenile Justice Act was enacted in 2015 and notified in 2016.

During the hearing on Tuesday, counsel for the petitioner, N Chaudhury, pointed out that in several judicial districts, juvenile justice boards (JJBs) have not been constituted and children in conflict with law are subjected to jurisdiction of nearest JJBs.

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The court directed the state government to submit a report informing whether JJBs have been constituted in every district, whether they have been constituted in accordance with Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and indicate the last date of tenure of members of JJBs.

“In the said report, it shall also be indicated if the JJBs where the proceedings of districts where no JJBs are constituted are taken up, whether such process is backed up by any notification of the state government,” the high court order read.

“We once again record our hope and trust that the state government shall do the needful to notify the draft child protection policy as well as juvenile justice (care and protection of children) rules at the earliest by expediting the consultation process,” it added.

The next date of the hearing has been fixed for December 18.