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A three-year compilation of baseline information by the Juvenile Justice Clinic Helpdesk astatine the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, highlights the backgrounds of children coming into interaction with the juvenile justness system. Collected betwixt 2022 and 2025, the information covering 577 children (in struggle with the law) shows that astir of them travel from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Over fractional the children had not completed people 10, and a important fig grew up successful single-parent oregon parent-less households.
In presumption of age, a majority, with implicit 70% (407 children), were betwixt 16 and 18 years old, portion the remaining 170 were aged 12 to 16. Children from marginalised communities were disproportionately represented — 185 belonged to number communities (Muslims and Christians), and 183 were from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, oregon Other Backward Classes, unneurotic making up astir two-thirds of those recorded.
Educational Challenges
Education levels further bespeak the disadvantages these children face. More than half, 319 children, had not completed people 10, portion lone 258 continued their studies beyond that level. Family circumstances further compound their vulnerability. Of the 577 children, 124 had nary father, 28 had nary mother, and 12 did not person some parents. The information besides points to gaps successful continuing acquisition and reintegration. While 44.7% of children were enrolled successful acquisition supra people 10, the bulk — 55.3% — had dropped retired oregon did not precocious beyond little grades, which researchers astatine NLSIU say, bespeak difficulties successful reintegrating into the acquisition system.
Researchers astatine the NLSIU helpdesk said the inaugural was acceptable up to supply ineligible assistance and psycho-social enactment to children successful struggle with the law. The findings, they noted, uncover systemic gaps that widen beyond the ineligible model and encompass poverty, disrupted household structures, and unequal access to education.
Amaidhi Devaraj, co-director, Juvenile Justice Clinic, NLSIU, Bengaluru, said that though the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, categorises children arsenic either successful struggle with the instrumentality oregon successful request of attraction and protection, information indicates that galore children entering the juvenile justness strategy travel from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. “As such, those successful struggle with the instrumentality should besides beryllium regarded arsenic children successful request of attraction and extortion and indispensable beryllium provided with due enactment and rehabilitation, an effort we are striving to code done our helpdesk initiative,” she said.
Interventions
Since March 2022, the Juvenile Justice Clinic astatine the NLSIU has carried retired aggregate interventions to enactment children coming into interaction with the juvenile justness system. On the ineligible front, 65 children received ineligible representation, portion 134 children were provided ineligible assistance and adjacent to 2,500 children participated successful ineligible consciousness sessions. Need-based capableness gathering sessions were besides organised for 600 stakeholders successful the juvenile justness system, successful collaboration with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA), Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), District Child Protection Office (DCPO), and Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU).
The portion has besides worked intimately with the Juvenile Justice Committee of the High Court of Karnataka and KSLSA to place gaps and challenges successful the juvenile justness system. Key assets outputs are, instrumentality kits designed to usher ineligible procedures for bail and for the apprehension and archetypal accumulation of children, manuals to assistance stakeholders implicit societal probe reports, audits assessing the functioning of Observation Homes successful Karnataka and a survey highlighting lawsuit delays and pending matters wrong the juvenile justice system. The session besides offers an elective people for NLSIU students to research the juvenile justness strategy and prosecute with real-time cases to amended recognize systemic challenges.
