Children are the world’s most valuable resources and its clinching hope for the future. The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of responsibility and to endow them with wings of independence. 40% of India’s population is children, and we have the unique distinction of having the largest number of malnourished and illiterate children in the world. Many of our children continue to face difficult circumstances despite our proud claim to have given ourselves a ‘National Policy for Children’ which has categorically stated that children are our national assets.
Goa is the first State in the country which was declared to be ‘Child Friendly’ when it promulgated the Goa Children’s Act in 2003 (GCA-2003) and the Goa State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (GSCPCR) in 2007. Ironically, laws such as these are not to be read as a reflection of a progressive State but a tacit acknowledgement of a disgraceful fact that children in the State of Goa are highly unsafe and need institutional and societal support.
Apna Ghar: Except for the fact that a handful of contractors have made their money in constructing the new premises at Apna Ghar, the condition of children in the home remains the same. We should check on the availability of drinking, bath water, lighting, functioning of fans, and hygiene in the kitchen, etc, of this State run home. People in Goa were shocked when they learnt that the ratio of government employees to civil population was 1:4. The Apna Ghar is teeming with staff. But you have to painfully search for the children in it. They seem to have all disappeared into thin air! As for the juveniles, they are a rare sight in Apna Ghar – even those who have committed heinous crimes such as rape and murder have been released on bail. The Colvale Central Jail is now home to some of those who could have been saved, rehabilitated and reintegrated into society had they been professionally counselled and reformed when they were of a malleable age when first produced before the juvenile board.
Prior to the enactment of the Goa Children’s Act, 2003, the ‘Apna Ghar’ was for decades known as the ‘Bal Niketan’. It was full of children with some even sleeping on the floor. They included babies for whom cradles were in short supply. We all remember the case of baby Swizel in 2000 that died of ant bites because of being kept on the floor. In the Bal Niketan there were the shouts of children playing and filled with laughter. The staff was noticeable and the ‘Bal Niketan’ was accessible to civil society members.
The Apna Ghar of today is a silent place with no children’s voice or footsteps heard. You feel like you are in a cemetery. There are no voices heard and no one laughs and plays. The children have no playground. The walls are high and the gates within are a bit too many. There is absolutely nothing child-friendly in the Juvenile Court where children in conflict with law are brought, nor in the place where the Child Welfare Committee conducts their proceedings.
Fifteen years after the coming into being of the Children’s Act, the Children’s Court is still housed at the Sharma Shakti Bhavan at Patto, Panjim. This was meant as a purely temporary arrangement. Now no one wants to talk about returning back the premises to the Labour Department. Maybe the High Court of Goa (Mumbai Bench) is waiting for someone to file a Public Interest Litigation.
Juvenille delinquency: ‘Children in Conflict with Law’ are always ignored and treated as invisible. Many believe that these children get what they deserve and hence they are least concerned about the dire treatment meted out to them. Due to relative immaturity, a juvenile does not quite understand the results of his/her actions and the manner in which he/she ought to respond to the surroundings.
Reintegration: Reintegration of a ‘Çhild in Conflict with Law’ is one of the important rights of the child. Paradoxically, children need a lot of love especially when they do not deserve it. In India, juvenile delinquency is one of those social problems afflicting not only the children in conflict with law but also families, communities and society as well.
Rehabilitation: The committee on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children who are over the minimum age of criminal responsibility and in conflict with the law have a lesser culpability than adults because they differ from adults in their physical and psychological development, and their emotional and educational needs. States must accommodate these tacit differences by establishing just procedures for children that guarantee their right to a fair trial which should focus upon the rehabilitation of the child rather than on punishment or brazen retribution.
Conclusion: In all affirmative actions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration. While the ‘best interests’ has not been precisely defined anywhere, the protection of the best interests of the child means for instance, that the traditional objectives of criminal justice, such as repression/retribution, ought to give way and be dove-tailed into rehabilitation and restorative justice-objectives in dealing with the child offenders. Childhood is associated with innocence and playfulness. It is about joy and freedom. Yet there is not a single taluka in Goa which has not registered any crime by children in the last few decades. Goan Society presently is in no way equipped to deal with child delinquency.
Let us remember that there are no bad children. It is we who have betrayed and failed them. Let us hope that the 4th Annual Round Table Conference on juvenile issues which will be held in Delhi on December 1 will tangibly focus on the issues faced by today’s children.
(The writer a social scientist, is a member of the Juvenile Justice Board and one of those who drafted the Goa Children’s Act)
