Understand, don't just hear out a child in conflict with law: CJI

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant Saturday said a child in conflict with law must not only be heard but also be understood, since few young people can speak up for themselves before the police or any authority.Speaking on 10 years of the framing of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Kant said very often, the child in conflict with law today was, only a little earlier, a child in need of care and protection whom we did not reach in time and that should be kept in mind while dealing with them.

"Our answer to such a predicament is restoration, not retribution. The Act presumes everyone below 18 to be innocent of any criminal intent, treats institutional care as a last resort, encourages diversion from formal proceedings, and prefers counselling, community service, and probation to confinement, while promising a fresh start.

These choices flow from the Constitutional philosophy discernible from Articles 15(3) and 39 and also from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which looks to the young assuming a constructive role in society.

The 2015 Act thus makes a wager that a child given a second chance is far more likely to become a productive member of society than one branded as a criminal," he said.Supreme Court judge, Justice B V Nagarathna, who is heading SC's Juvenile Justice Committee, said adults have a duty to understand the anxieties of children. "We cannot be dismissive of their concerns, lest they feel alienated and rejected. The true measure of a society and its elders lies in how they deal with their children. We must ensure that we do not fail on that count. All children are ours and their distress is our distress too," Nagarathna said.