Essay on the Special Juvenile Police Units in India !
It cannot be denied that the first contact of the delinquent juvenile is always with the police. Every juvenile offender has to be taken to police station for however short the period may be, before he is sent to Observation Home or Children’s Home. Thus, other welfare agencies come into picture at a later stage only.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
The cooperation of these agencies in dealing with juvenile offenders is no doubt, valuable but from the administrative point of view, it is only the police organisation which can prevent and control the ever-increasing quantum of juvenile crimes.
Section 63 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 provides that there should be Special Juvenile Police Units in every State to handle juvenile in conflict with law and neglected children. Each police station should have such Special Juvenile Police Unit which should be assigned the following functions:—
(1) Supervisory field work:
It should initiate steps to prevent juvenile delinquency at all levels in all forms. This would necessitate intensive field-work including surveys, identification of juvenile and child delinquency and collection of socio-economic data about delinquent’s family background. The Unit should maintain detailed records and send periodical statistical reports about juvenile delinquents i.e. juveniles in conflict with law.
(2) Co-ordination:
The Special Juvenile Police Unit should coordinate and maintain close liaison with social welfare agencies, Juvenile Justice Boards, Observation Homes, Children’s Home, and Shelter Homes etc. and also with the members of the Child Welfare Committee. It should also help the probation officers in keeping surveillance on the juveniles in conflict with law under their charge.
(3) Counselling:
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The Police personnel constituting the Unit should be well trained in counselling services and they should seek co-operation of psychologists, psychiatrists, medical jurists etc. to know about the personality, habits, etc. of juveniles who are persistent delinquents or addicts.
(4) Training:
In each Juvenile Police Unit, there should be at least one officer with aptitude and appropriate training and orientation in child welfare who should be designated as child welfare officer. His main function should be to handle juveniles or children in co-ordination with the general police.
It may be stated that the Committee on Women Prisoners headed by Justice Krishna Iyer, in its report submitted to the Government in February 1988 had recommended deployment of women police for handling women and juvenile offenders and neglected children because in the opinion of the Committee “women have greater potential to cool, defuse and de-escalate many situations.”