Superintendent of Police V. Balakrishnan said that cases of 'juveniles in conflict with law' had come down in the district from 15 registered in 2009 to seven this year owing to the increased enrolment in schools and betterment of overall social support systems.
He told The Hindu on the sidelines of the workshop which the police organised with the Child Helpline cell to give specialised training to the police officials on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, amended in 2002, here on Thursday.
Mr. Balakrishnan said the law stipulates that one should not use ‘accused,' ‘juvenile crime,' ‘custody,' and ‘arrest' while referring to cases involving delinquents.
“Instead of juvenile crimes, it should be referred as cases of juveniles in conflict with law similar to referring people with disabilities as ‘differently-abled people,” he said as a caution to police and media personnel writing reports on such cases.
According to him, instructions have been given to the police personnel not to keep the delinquents in police stations for more than six hours and no uniformed police official should question them.
He said that all the 40 police personnel who got trained in the workshop would be posted as ‘juvenile police' at the law and order stations.
