Draft Model Rules under Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 Released
The Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi released the Draft Model Rules under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 in New Delhi.
The draft rules have been released for stakeholder comments and suggestions. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 has come into force from 15th January, 2016 repealing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015
The Act is a comprehensive law with strengthened provisions for children in conflict with law and those in need of care and protection.
Some of the key features include:
1.
special
provisions
for
children
who
commit
heinous
offences
in
the
age
group
of
16-18
years;
2.
inclusion
of
new
offences
committed
against
children,
which
were
so
far
not
adequately
covered
under
any
other
law,
such
as
giving
intoxicating
liquor
or
narcotic
drug
or
tobacco
products
to
children,
sale
and
procurement
of
children
for
any
purpose,
corporal
punishment
in
child
care
institutions,
etc.;
3.
mandatory
registration
of
all
Child
Care
Institutions
with
punishment
in
case
of
non-compliance;
and
4.
giving
statutory
status
to
the
Central
Adoption
Resource
Authority
(CARA)
to
enable
it
to
perform
its
function
more
effectively.
One of the key features of the JJ Act, 2015 is special treatment of children in the age group of 16-18 years who commit heinous offences. The Draft rules prescribe detailed child friendly procedures for police, Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and Children's Court.
The Board and the Children's Court are to adhere to the principle of best interest of the child and the objective of rehabilitation and reintegration of the child in the society. Every state Government is required to set up at least one "place of safety" in a State for the rehabilitation of such children.
The Rules prescribe for extensive services to be provided to such children through regular monitoring.
Aim of the new rules
The Draft Model Rules, 2016 that repeal the Model Rules, 2007, are based on the philosophy that children need to be reformed and reintegrated into society.
The Rules are appreciative of the development needs of children and therefore best interest of the child along with child friendly procedures is incorporated across the provisions and is the primary consideration.
A principle of JJ Act, 2015 is that keeping children in institutional care should be a measure of last resort. The Act therefore provides for various de-institutionalization measures for children such as adoption, foster care and sponsorship. The Draft rules prescribe detailed procedures to give effect to these provisions. Various models of Group foster care were reviewed and studied before drafting the relevant provisions in the Rules. In addition to these, roles and responsibilities of various functionaries responsible to provide care and protection to children have been re-defined to bring clarity.
Chapter
on
offences
against
child
The
JJ
Act,
2015
includes
a
separate
chapter
on
offences
against
child
and
several
of
the
offences
listed
in
this
chapter
were
so
far
not
adequately
covered
under
any
other
law.
These
include
sale
and
procurement
of
children
for
any
purpose
including
illegal
adoption,
corporal
punishment
in
child
care
institutions,
giving
children
intoxicating
liquor
or
narcotic
drug
or
psychotropic
substance
or
tobacco
products,
use
of
child
by
militant
or
adult
groups,
offences
against
disabled
children
and,
kidnapping
and
abduction
of
children.
For the effective implementation of these provisions, the Draft Rules provides for child friendly procedures for reporting, recording and trial. It is proposed that every police station will have child friendly infrastructure, similarly special Children's Room will be designated in every Court complex.
In addition to the Draft Rules, extensive Forms have also been drafted to standardise and simplify prescribed procedures. A total of 49 Forms have been drafted which is more than double the Forms in Model Rules, 2007.
Separate individual care forms for children in need of care and protection and those in conflict with law have been created, form for social background report by the police, which was lacking earlier has been developed to assist the police in recording information about children. Form for period review of children in the age group of 16-18 years who are placed in "place of safety", will assist in proper review of the progress of the child and also ensure children are provided with adequate services for their rehabilitation.
Several other forms related to periodic report by probation officer, case monitoring sheet, Comprehensive psycho-social report, Rehabilitation card, etc. will go a long way in better understanding and implementation of the Act and Rules framed thereunder.
Multi-disciplinary committee
The Ministry constituted a multi-disciplinary Committee to draft the model rules. The committee comprised of a Senior Judge and advocates, members of Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee, representatives of State Governments, representatives of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, mental health expert, and civil society organisations, all working in the field of child protection.
After a comprehensive review of the Draft Rules by the Ministry, these are being released today. Thereafter, Adoption Regulations and Model Foster Care Guidelines under the JJ Act, 2015 will also be placed in public domain shortly.
Draft rules made public
The Draft Rules are also being placed on the website of the Ministry www.wcd.nic.in for inviting suggestions and comments from the Civil Society Organisations, Non-Government Organisations, Individuals, State Governments and UT administrations and Ministries concerned. Comments are to be sent to the Ministry at email id [email protected] within 15 days.