More than 50,000 children in conflict with the law are stuck in a severely delayed justice system, with 55 per cent of 100,904 cases pending before 362 Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) as of 31 October 2023, reveals the latest India Justice Report (IJR) released on Thursday, reported PTI.
The report highlights that pendency ranges from a high of 83 per cent in Odisha to 35 per cent in Karnataka. On average, each JJB is burdened with a backlog of 154 cases.
A decade after the Juvenile Justice Act, systemic gaps persist
Despite the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act completing ten years, critical deficiencies continue:
- One in four JJBs functions without a full bench of principal magistrate and two social worker members
- 30 per cent of JJBs have no attached legal services clinic
- Fourteen states and Jammu & Kashmir have no places of safety for children above 18
- Oversight of Child Care Institutions remains weak — only 810 of the mandated 1,992 inspections were conducted in 166 sampled homes
Stark shortage of exclusive homes for girls
Data from 292 districts show only 40 child care institutions are exclusively for girls across the country.
The study points to a complete lack of a centralised public database equivalent to the National Judicial Data Grid for JJBs. The IJR team had to file over 250 RTI applications to gather basic information.
Of more than 500 replies received from 28 states and two Union Territories:
- 11 per cent were rejected
- 24 per cent received no response
- 29 per cent were merely transferred
- Only 36 per cent provided usable information
Maja Daruwala, chief editor of the India Justice Report, described the findings as a serious warning:
"authorised oversight bodies neither receive it routinely nor insist on it. Scattered and irregular data makes supervision episodic and accountability hollow," she said.
The report underscores that timely justice, rehabilitation, and support for thousands of children remain blocked by these persistent systemic failures.
