The main legal point established in the judgment is the violation of the Juvenile Justice Act and the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, leading to the issuance of comprehensive guidelines and directions to prevent the incarceration of children in conflict with the law in jails or their subjection to the Adult Criminal Justice System.

A.K. SIKRI,J.

1. In this letter petition, a very serious issue touching upon he rights of juvenile delinquent is raised. It is pointed out that many times when the accused persons are arrested by the Police and even when they happen to be children, they are lodged in Tihar Jail and subjected to the hardship of Adult Criminal Justice System. This may happen due to sheer negligence, omission or even deliberately. In support of this plea, it is mentioned that under Right to Information Act, 2005, information was received by the applicant from Central Jail No.7 which discloses that during the period October, 2010 to August, 2011, 114 persons were shifted from Tihar Jail to Observation Homes after they were found to be juveniles. It is thus stated that without proper care being taken by the Police Authorities at the time of arrest to find out whether the concerned person is a juvenile or adult, they are lodged in the jails. It is further mentioned that generally from appearance of the persons arrested, it can be made out that he is a child but in many cases inspite of the family of the persons arrested producing the birth certificate etc. to show that the person arrested is a child, still these evidences are ignored by the police and only when enquiry is conducted determining the age and it is ultimately found that the accused person is a child, is he shifted to Observation Homes. In the process, such children are subjected to the hardship of Adult Criminal Justice System in the first instance which would have been easily avoided if proper care is taken at the time of arrest of such persons.

2. Notice was issued to the Government of NCT of Delhi, Commissioner of Delhi Police as well as Director General of Tihar Jail. Mr. Asthana, Advocate has also been appearing on various dates of hearing which have taken place thereafter. Application was also filed by International Bridges of Justice (India) Trust (for short “IBJ”) for impleadment as it wanted to intervene in the matter and support the cause. Additionally, Ms. Anu Narula, advocate who has been espousing such causes also sought permission to intervene in the matter. They were accordingly allowed to do so. When the matter was taken up on 8.2.2012, application filed by IBJ was listed in which it was pointed out that on the visit of their representatives to Central Jail No.7 of Tihar Jail, some young offenders, who were shown as between the age of 18 to 21 years, were found to be juveniles. Following order was passed in that application:

“CM 1796/2012 (for directions)

In this application filed by International Bridges of Justice (India) Trust, it is submitted that while interacting with some young offenders in Central Jail No.7 which is specially meant for young offenders between the age of 18 to 21 years, it was discovered that about 17 of the prisoners were stated to be below 18 years of age. This was the claim of those prisoners who wanted to support the claim either by way of birth certificate or some other proof. The averments in this application disclose that in respect of these 17 persons, no proper enquiry is made either by the police while apprehending them or by the Magistrate while remitting them to remand or even by the Jail authorities while admitting these persons. The names of these persons are mentioned in the list annexed with the application. In respect of one person, namely, Birbal, it is stated that even the ossification test was done as per which it is turned out that he was less than 18 years of age and he has now been released and sent to the Observation Room. In the aforesaid circumstances, we direct the Superintendent Jail to conduct immediately an enquiry into the age of other persons mentioned in the annexure. In those cases where there is a proof in the form of school certificate/date of birth certificate from the municipal record etc., that should be acted upon immediately. In those cases where there is no documentary proof of age, ossification te