Vijayawada: The juvenile justice delivery procedure should be handled humanely rather than like any other crime case, said Acting Chief Justice of Hyderabad High Court, Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, on Saturday. He opined that in most of the cases, children face extreme traumatic experiences and the rescued children often hesitate to speak. “It is the responsibility of the police and judiciary to instil a sense of confidence and trust in them,” Justice Ranganathan said.
Speaking at a seminar on “Children protection and friendly judicial service” organised by the Krishna district judicial services commission, Justice Ranganathan said that the Juvenile Justice Act -2015 has given many rights to children below 18. Even juvenile offenders need to be provided due care and legal assistance which they are entitled to according the Juvenile Justice Act, he said.
Krishna district judge, Justice Y. Laxman Rao said that judiciary should reach out to the people to explain them the rights of children. “We should adopt the approach of rescuing, protecting and reforming children instead of punishing them,” Justice Rao said. Deputy commissioner of police G.V.G. Ashok Kumar said that Vijayawada has become child-friendly city. He said the city police was successful in preventing child trafficking in the city with the help of NGOs.
Mr Kumar said that in 2016, cases of child labour, child marriage and begging by children had come down drastically when compared to 2015. “As many as 179 children were rescued in 2015, while the number has come down to 45 during 2016,” the DCP said, attributing the decrease to the continuous efforts and vigil by the police and NGOs. District judges, members of Juvenile Justice Boards, Juvenile Protection Unit officers in police department, advocates, NGOs and child rights activists participated in the seminar.
