Editorial
Dealing with child 'offences'
Adopt a sensible new approach
IT is rather surprising that many children land up in jail, when they should not, not because of any lacunae in the relevant laws but because of the ignorance of those who enforce these. The fact was exposed at a national consultation meeting recently on, "Improving Response to Children in Contact with Law," which addressed several issues related to young so-called offenders. Some very good suggestions were made by organisers of the meeting which deserves serious consideration of the law ministry.
The handling of an offence and treatment of the offender require a human touch, more so when it has to do with young people who might have gone astray or wayward for reasons that may not have been entirely in his or her control, or indulged in a petty offence which does not merit a police case. Sending them to jail and putting them through the rigours of the established trial process may be the easy way out for the police but at the end of the day it leaves a long lasting impact on the person from which he or she may never recover. It is even worse when children find themselves in jail for minor offences, quite in contravention to what the Children Act 1974 provides for.
We understand that Children Act 2010 is in the process of being finalised and we take heart from what the Law Minister said at the seminar about the Act being formulated in such a way that no child shall have to go to jail. But updating a law and making it relevant and sensitive to social needs and ground realities is one thing but applying it sensibly is quite another, as the proceedings of the said seminar have revealed.
Apart from the need for law enforcers to be more knowledgeable about relevant laws, what must also be underscored are the several suggestions made in the said seminar concerning the method of handling of young offenders. Apart from introducing a separate desk at police stations there is strong rationale for introducing alternative methods of resolution of offences committed by adolescents including local arbitration, instead of handing the offender over to the police. And there is good logic in involving the local chairman and members to act as probation officers, whose job it should be, along with the elders of the locality, to ensure that the youngsters do not resort to violence or criminal activities in the first place. And last but not the least, the counseling centers should be humanised so that those who leave these at the end of their term are better human beings and not worse.
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