800 Minors lodged in Kashmir’s juvenile home in last 6 Years

At least 800 minors were lodged in Kashmir’s lone Juvenile Home here in the past six years, officials said on Friday.
Director of J&K’s Social Welfare Department, Hashmat Ali, admitted that ever since the Juvenile Home was set-up in 2011, at least 800 minor offenders including ‘those in conflict with law’ (stone-pelters) were lodged there.
“The irony in Kashmir is that we keep a very pessimistic view of everything and that’s a tragedy. The Juvenile Home in Harwan was ranked one among best in India by a team of experts which came to inspect it in 2016,” Ali told Kashmir Post.
He said children lodged in the Juvenile Home are “most vulnerable and tough to handle.” “Most of these children were in the age group of 15 to 18 years,” he said, asserting that the J&K government roped in experts from Psychology Wing of the Ministry of Social Justice, New Delhi, for “quality counselling of these youth.”
“The 800 minors, who were lodged in the Juvenile Home, are those who came and went back. Majority of them are living a normal life,” Ali claimed.
He said the counselling seems to be yielding good results as “only exceptional cases returned to the Home after committing offences second-time.”
“The minors, however, don’t receive counselling for a longer period as they remain in the Home for less than a week before being bailed out by courts. Otherwise, the team of experts is supposed to provide counselling to these children twice a week,” Ali said.
Pertinently, the Juvenile Home in Kashmir is looked after by the Social Welfare Department. It was set up in 2011 at Rs 4.11 crore after the then government faced a lot of criticism for not having the facility in place.
Asked why the government continues to face criticism for lack of facilities in the Juvenile Home, the Director Social Welfare said there were some issues with the staff which have been taken care of recently. “The Service Selection Board (SSB) has referred some posts and shortage of staff will soon be addressed,” he said.
He said there is a scope for further improvement. “The funds are available for upgrading sports and other recreational activities at the Home. We have observed that sometimes, minors of same age group fight over issues like watching a particular channel on television,” he said.
Asked whether reports of children not being produced before courts are true, the Director Social Welfare said it happens “due to law and order situations” in the districts. “If a child is supposed to be produced before a court on a particular day and there is a law and order problem in the district on the same day, the hearing gets delayed,” said Ali.