Miffed with yet another incident of juvenile inmates fleeing from a special home, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi Government for suggesting that the home be shifted to Tihar Jail campus for security reasons.
A Bench headed by Justice Ravindra Bhat expressed its displeasure as it said: “If you can’t keep them secure, it is admitting defeat.”
Senior advocate A.J. Bhambani, who is amicus curiae in the case also rejected the suggestion put forth by the Department of Women and Child Development, and said the juvenile homes cannot be shifted to Tihar under the scheme of the Juvenile Justice Act as juveniles are not meant to be kept in jail.
The government had made the suggestion so that the security and vigil at Tihar could be used to keep delinquent juveniles under check.
The High Court has now asked the government to file by February 28 a comprehensive report on immediate measures it would take to check the problem.
The government also suggested that a senior police officer could be appointed as a ‘nodal officer’ to expedite response of the police when such incidents occur.
It also said that additional Police Control Room vans can be deployed around the juvenile homes to look after the situation. On Monday, it had taken the PCR 45 minutes to respond.
At this the court asked the government to consider appointment of a nodal officer and directed that additional PCR vans be deployed near the juvenile institutions.
The Bench was already hearing a similar matter after the High Court last year took suo motu cognizance of an incident of juveniles running away from special homes. The matter was to come up for hearing in March but was taken up on Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s incident in which 44 juvenile inmates of the Observation Home for Boys ran away after an altercation.
Earlier, the High Court had ordered deployment of police for maintaining peace inside observation homes but recently it modified its order and directed deployment of retired army men for the purpose.
It was then informed by the Delhi Government that the proposal for deploying ex-army men had been cleared but was pending approval before the Finance Department.
The court has now asked the Delhi Government to deploy security in 72 hours and was informed by the standing counsel for the Delhi Government that the L-G has called a meeting between police and welfare organisations to look into the issues plaguing the juvenile homes.
