Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Feb 11: Director General of Police (DGP) Dr SP Vaid today said that no minor has been detained under Public Safety Act (PSA) and admitted that there are no facilities in Jammu and Kashmir to handle juvenile law offenders even as lots of children pelted stones on security forces during last summer unrest in Valley.
Speaking at one day training programme schedule for Child Protection Officers and District Child Protection Officers on Juvenile Justice and Integrated Child Protection Scheme here, the DGP said that the children in the State have not been treated the way they should have been and in terms of facilities the State is far behind then other states of the country.
“We have a great tradition in India of treating our children very well but unfortunately if you see last few years there have been instances of children not being treated the way they should have been. You have huge problem of drugs in the country and especially our State (including) Kashmir Valley and Jammu province, huge problem of small school going and college going children taking to drugs,” he said.
The police chief while referring to last year’s violent turmoil in the Valley said lots of children came out on to the streets for stone-pelting. “Unfortunately in our State, we don’t have facilities to handle juvenile law offenders. You have a (Juvenile) home in Srinagar (at) Harwan and I think similar one in Jammu (at) RS Pura but let me admit before all of you, if you compare the facilities with rest of the country we are far far behind,” he added.
“Infact our experience is… when we take up the children who are forced into circumstances where they offend the law and police has no option but to take them into custody and when we take them into these homes, some of them ran away from there,” he further said.
“These children are like flowers. We need to treat them like that and I think we need to go a long way to make them comfortable there, make them at home there. These places are known homes but let them feel it is their home,” the DGP said.
He said police have now created child care units and asked for introspect with regard to what can be done for the betterment and care of children.
“In fact our SSP Crime Kashmir and Jammu were designated as nodal officers in the two provinces. And, IG Crime was notified as overall incharge of these child care units all over the State,” he said.
Mission Director ICDS, Talat Parvaiz, elaborated on the concepts of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) and Child Welfare Committees (CWC) for larger interest of the community. He gave detailed description of responsibilities given to the officers under the Juvenile Justice Act which is proportionate to the powers required to discharge the duties.
Hilal Bhat from UNICEF shared details about child protection scenario in Jammu and Kashmir while Ananth Kumar Ashtha, Lawyer and Child Rights expert from Delhi talked at length about the statutory structures and processes that are guaranteed under the Juvenile Justice system supported by Integrated Child Protection Scheme.
Among others who participated in the program were SJM Gilani, IG Kashmir, Shahid Meraj, SSP Crime, Parvaiz Ahmad Ganai, Dy. Director ICDS Kashmir.
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