Do we believe our judges or the Post: SC asks on detention of minors in J&K

New Delhi, Dec 14: The Supreme Court has accepted a finding of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court panel that no child had been detained in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370.

The panel told the SC that not a single minor had been detained or lodged in jail. The Juvenile Justice Committee of the HC, while complying with the order said that it visited all jails, following which a comprehensive report had been filed. The four judges part of the panel said that it had verified the allegations relating to the detentions and found them to be untrue.

The SC while accepting the report said that the judges had done a good job. There is nothing left in the petition which was filed by a child rights activist, a Bench comprising Justices N V Ramanna and R Subhash Reddy observed.

We are satisfied with the report. If we cannot believe our judges, then there will be no remedy, the Bench held. If people doubt the judges, it would affect the image of the judiciary the Court also said.

When the counsel for the petitioner said that every HC order is challenged in the SC. This does not mean that people did not have faith in the judges, the council also added. The SC said that the judges visited the jails and found nothing wrong. We would have taken a serious view if they found anything, but they found nothing. If you cannot believe them then we cannot help you the Bench said while rejecting a request for the report to be handed over. The report was filed in a sealed cover and handed over to the SC.

The SC said that it could not give credence to the media reports that were cited by the petitioner. What should we give weightage to, the reports filed in the Washington Post of the fact-finding report of our judges. We are satisfied that the allegations are not right and you could approach the High Court in individual cases of detentions. Four judges went to each jail and we are satisfied that no such incident took place, the Bench observed.