GUWAHATI: The Assam government has informed the Gauhati High Court that its child protection policy and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules are expected to be finalised and announced by the end of this year.
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Senior advocate D Nath conveyed this update to a division bench comprising Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Arun Dev Choudhury during a hearing on a petition filed in 2019 by the child rights organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan, based in Delhi. Despite the enactment of the Juvenile Justice Act in 2015 and its notification in 2016, Assam has yet to draft and issue these essential policies and regulations.
During the session, the petitioner’s counsel, N Chaudhury, highlighted that in multiple judicial districts, Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) have not been established, resulting in children in conflict with the law being referred to the nearest available JJBs. In response, the court directed the state government to submit a report detailing whether JJBs have been established in each district, if these are in compliance with the Juvenile Justice Act, and the end dates for the current JJB members’ tenure.
The court order also instructed that the report should specify whether proceedings from districts lacking JJBs are handled by neighboring JJBs and if this practice has been formally authorised by a state government notification. "We reiterate our expectation that the state government will take the necessary steps to promptly notify the child protection policy and juvenile justice rules, accelerating the consultation process if needed," the order added.