According to the Children's Act, 2013, if any child or adolescent is involved in a serious crime, there are also some provisions of punishment. Section 33 of the Act states that no child may be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or imprisonment, regardless of any other law.
Section 34 states that if any child is found guilty of a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment, the juvenile court may order detention for a term not more than 10 (ten) years and not less than 3 (three) years. Section 47 of the law gives three months to investigate the case. If the investigation is not completed within this period for any reason, the investigation officer will get another 30 days in the next period. If the investigation is not completed within 120 days, the juvenile court will be able to grant bail to the accused child. Section 59 states that the Government shall establish and maintain the required number of Child Development Centers for the purpose of housing, correction and development of the children detained in the judicial process and the children under trial.
In other words, it is clear that the purpose of this law is not only to punish the child involved in the crime. Rather, to correct him and lead him to a healthy, beautiful and prosperous life. It should be noted that in the suppression of juvenile delinquency, not only punishment should be given, but also juvenile delinquency should not be involved in the crime again.
But the reality is completely different. Children are often being punished by mobile courts. Even in the judicial courts, there are cases of forgetting the provisions of the Children's Act and giving punishments. The establishment of a child-friendly justice system is still on paper. The main reason is the ignorance of the judges and the police about the provisions of this law. That is why mobile courts, even criminal courts, are passing judgments against children, bypassing the law. Though there was talk of setting up children's desks in all police stations under Women SI, it has not been created in all police stations yet. There are prisons for men and women accused in the police station. But there is no separate prison for children.
Under the Children's Act of 1974 (now the Children's Act 2013), a development centre for boys was established in Tongi, Gazipur in 1986. In Jessore another development centre was built for boys in 1995 and for girls in Konabari, Gazipur in 2003. The total number of seats in the three centres run under the Social Services Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare is 600.
According to the information provided by the Department of Social Services, there are 902 residents against 600 seats. In other words, the institutions are running with more than one and a half times the number of seats. The centres are being run with various challenges including limited budget, administrative weakness, insufficient manpower, underdeveloped correction processes, and rehabilitation activities. Even though they are development centres, the condition of these centres is worse than that of prisons. As a result, the system of reformative punishment is of no use here. Rather children are growing up as more horrible criminals.
There is no denying that a large portion of our children are deprived of the basic needs of education, housing, medical care, food and clothing. Many children get involved in various crimes by being victims of the situation and not understanding anything. In that case, if he is tried together with other criminals and kept in jail at the same time, it will be inhumane.
Therefore, it is time to establish a child-friendly justice system by ensuring proper implementation of the Children's Act 2013. Children are the future of the nation. Therefore, according to the needs of the 21st century, they should be brought under the purview of reform and built as the future of the nation.
Anik Ahmed is Pursuing LLB, Rajshahi University