Supreme Court judge said - Every institution is working below its capacity, vacancies are having an impact.

Supreme Court Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Saturday expressed concern over every institution in the juvenile justice system working below its capacity. He said having such a large number of vacancies has the effect of turning these bodies into paper tigers in child protection cases.

Supreme Court Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Saturday expressed concern over every institution in the juvenile justice system working below its capacity. He said having such a large number of vacancies has the effect of turning these bodies into paper tigers in child protection cases.

Justice Bhat, head of the Supreme Court's committee on Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare, took center stage during the inaugural session of his two-day national consultation and pointed to the breakdown of the system in the event of closure of institutions due to shortage of staff and officers. Per warned.

A national consultation has been organized by the Committee on 23 and 24 September on best practices to be adopted in the States and further strengthening of the justice system for children in conflict with law. Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna and UNICEF India representative Cynthia McCaffrey and other dignitaries were present at the inauguration ceremony.

He said, 'Every institution - whether it is Juvenile Justice Board or Child Welfare Committees or other such institutions - is running below its capacity in the sense that there are large number of vacancies in most of them. These vacancies actually weaken and paralyze the system, Justice Bhat said in his keynote address. Child welfare committees are unable to function with full strength.
 
The apex court judge said, 'Unless we establish a common protocol and make it binding on all states, these institutions will remain just paper tigers.' Justice Bhat said that the approach and initiative should be that a juvenile delinquent can and should be reformed and hence reformation should be the primary driver of all decisions taken for them.
 
On this occasion, Justice BV Nagarathna said that juvenile delinquents are not born criminals, but become victims of parental or social neglect and hence every citizen should take a pledge to help those children who need care and education. In need of protection or who are violating the law.
 
Justice Nagarathna emphasized that a child must not first commit a crime to seek help and that the best interests of juveniles cannot be secured without adequate community support structures.