A juvenile justice panel has rejected the medical report that suggested that the boy accused of being involved in the Jammu grenade blast is a major.
Chairperson selection-cum-oversight-committee for JuvenileJustice, Justice (R) Hasnain Masoodi, said, “Ideally the police has to approachthe Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and ask them to pass direction for conductingmedical examination of the boy that will determine his age. And the need forsuch order will only arise when there is not sufficient record to prove hisage. They (police) have done the medical test on their own before presentingthe boy before the JJB, which as per law is not permitted.”
As per the government statement, the bone and teeth testconducted shows that the age of the accused is around 19 years.
“Whether the juvenile is a major or minor the decision todeclare it lies with the Juvenile Justice Board. The police can’t claim that heis an adult, till the board, which are doing their own investigation, provesit. As of yet the boy is in observation home at R.S Pora, Jammu,” said anofficial dealing with juvenile law.
The police on Tuesday handed over the boy to the JuvenileJustice Board Jammu after declaring him a minor.
In violation of the JJ Act, the police had named the minorand held him in custody for more than 24 hours.
According to the JuvenileJustice Act, “As soon as a juvenile in conflict with law is apprehended by thepolice, he shall be placed under the charge of the special juvenile police unitor the designated police officer who shall produce the juvenile before theboard without any loss of time, but within a period of 24 hours of hisapprehension, excluding the time necessary for the journey, from the placewhere the juvenile was apprehended, to the board.”
The Act further says, “Provided that in no case, a juvenilein conflict with law shall be placed in a police lock-up or lodged in a jail.”
As far as disclosing the identity of the juvenile isconcerned, the Act says: “No report in any newspaper, magazine, newssheet orvisual media of any inquiry regarding a juvenile in conflict with law or achild in need of care and protection under the Act shall the name, address orschool or any other particulars circulated to lead to the identification of thejuvenile or child nor shall any picture of any such juvenile or child bepublished.”
Child rights activists had also registered their protestsagainst the violation of the JJ Act in this case.