Children in Child-Care Institutions Are Not There for Reasons of Their Own, Rehabilitation Must Be Prioritised: Justice Ravindra Bhat

"When I started my law career, I had not thought that I would be where I am. When I am travelling and the car stops at the signal and I look at children begging for money, I think that I could quite easily have been him. That is the feeling we have to eliminate, bring in that sense of inclusiveness", Justice Ravindra Bhat has expressed."All the children in the Child-Care Institutions are not there for reasons of their own.""Even a child in conflict with the law is a mirror of what we are. The background they come from and the behaviour that he is in for is a reflection of what he has seen. If I say that all that matters is me and my family, you will have a selfish, greedy and avaricious child. If a child comes from a family where he sees that petty crime is the order of the day, he will follow it. You can't find fault with the child. It is our job to restore the child with the rest of the world", he said.The Supreme Court judge was speaking at the Fourth Round Table Conference on the Implementation of Juvenile Justice System in the Union Territories of J&K & Ladakh. The conference was organised by the Juvenile Justice Committee, Supreme Court of India, Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of J&K and Ladakh in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir government and supported by UNICEF.Speaking of the Covid pandemic repercussions, Justice Bhat mentioned that there have been alarming press reports which have revealed serious rights violations with a spike in child sexual abuse cases, trafficking, forced labour etc."The challenge which Covid put to us was whether children should be institutionalised or sent back to the family? One short answer was we could send them back wherever families exit. But that 'one size fits all' approach did not speak to me because several children came from very violent and negligent families and that likelihood of being trafficked was very real", he continued.Justice Bhat flagged as the first area of concern the problem of exclusion- "There are children who are not part of any child care institutions, juvenile institutions or observation homes. During the pandemic, all our institutions were sensitised to the issue of children becoming orphans. Now, there are court orders and policies. The idea of having a census or survey throughout the state to look at the situation of children is an excellent idea. Please come out with a paper on this, take suggestions from all departments and stakeholders and carry this out. We did carry out one kind of census when I was in Delhi and I consulted the concerned department. They took a census of the children who were left out of the education system. It was startling that some 50,000 odd children were completely out of the education system! In Delhi, we have migrant labour. There were linkages- the primary school system was different from the secondary school system. So we created linkages. But please carry out some census to determine where the children are and what needs to be done".He stated that the second aspect would be training of people working in child care institutions."One of the objectives of the JJ Act is the rehabilitation of the juveniles in conflict with the law. Any effective delivery can only be through trained personnel, that is, if you have the personnel there. I am aware that the social welfare department has its own challenges for the state government as well as the Centre especially when it comes to funding etc, but I would repeatedly emphasise that it is important to flag and create a system for the prompt filling of vacancies in all child care institutions, in all observation homes, children's home etc.""There needs to be a realistic appraisal of the homes and their requirement of manpower. In one state, I found even though there was the sanction of posts, the tendency was to contract them out and outsource them and give them by way of contractual appointments. In my opinion, that is not the correct approach if you are looking at investing in the future and ensuring that these children become as participating citizens of this country as all of us. We must make sure that all of those who are posted are our people and not just people who are there till the contract comes to an end. The government is the guardian, it has the responsibility and ownership of these institutions, these children are as much our children", urged the judge.He emphasised the importance of teachers, providing equitable quality education to all. He opined that health and sports are very important in addition to education for children in these institutions, pointing out mental health problems aggravated by prolonged lockdown, inability to socialise between children, lack of access to education itself, lack of digital infrastructure. "We cannot always expect poor people to have smartphones. These are problems that have to be faced at the structural level. If you are going to see non-physical and virtual schools for a prolonged period, it is...

Children in Child-Care Institutions Are Not There for Reasons of Their Own, Rehabilitation Must Be Prioritised: Justice Ravindra Bhat

Mehal Jain

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