Being “Juvenile”

Of the six accused in the Delhi gangrape, one was reportedly the most brutal. He is also the only one who has managed to prove that he was a couple of months shy of 18 years of age – considered as juvenile in India. On this technicality, while the others received the death sentence, the “juvenile” was tried under the Juvenile Justice Act and given the longest possible sentence of 3 years in a reform home. Eight months of which he has already served as an undertrial.

The law is the law. And under it, he is to be placed in a reform home where he would be given proper psychological care, counseling, vocational training, education and will be rehabilitated. He will then be released as a reformed man. A worthy pursuit if indeed this is what would happen.

Since the verdict, news reports have claimed that the “juvenile” is watching television, leading the good life, learning to read and write, can play games and is learning tailoring.

Newslaundry, most impressed by this great social reform story, decided to visit Majnu Ka Tilla observation home where he has been lodged, to document how he is being reformed.

This is what we found.

To begin with, the juvenile has been lodged inside a room in the “place of safety” section of the observation home. He is not allowed to interact with any of the other inmates in the home and is always accompanied by guards when out of his room. Two guards accompany him whenever he leaves his room or takes toilet breaks. He eats alone and in his free time watches television. His room has an air-cooler, bed and television set with a Tata Sky connection. His day is spent watching TV and relaxing in his room. There is some monitoring, though. One of the officers who looks after the 14–odd children in the home told me that the “juvenile” is allowed to “watch only Hindi cinema not Hollywood films”. The films that were last playing on the popular Hindi movie channels on Tata Sky were – Ghanchakkar (about a group of robbers led by the hero of the film, who forgets where he’s hidden the money they’ve stolen), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi and Return of Ghajini to name a few.

What of the reform, education and classes in socialisation skills which one assumes a sex offender such as the “juvenile” should be undergoing?

The Majnu Ka Tilla observation home provides training in cooking and tailoring. Sources told us that the “juvenile” had shown interest in learning tailoring but the superintendent of the home didn’t allow him to do so fearing he might use tailoring tools as weapons. The officer we spoke to told us that it is not possible to provide special care to one child and since he has been kept separately he cannot be given training like the other children.

The Juvenile Justice Act also specifies that the mental health of juveniles needs to be given special care during their stay at the observation home. Regular counseling is a must. Yet, there’s only one counselor in the home and another counselor visits the home from Manas Foundation, an organisation which provides mental health care. We were informed that the contract with Manas Foundation has not been renewed. When we contacted Manas Foundation, we received no response to our queries on the status of the contract.

We spoke to several experts and counselors involved with child care and juvenile delinquent counseling and all of them stated that keeping the “juvenile” in solitary confinement will not help in reforming him. Shahbaz Khan Sherwani of HAQ – Centre for Child Rights, appointed specially to look after the “juvenile”, said that solitary confinement goes against the spirit of the Juvenile Justice Act and is lethal. While he used to counsel the “juvenile” as an undertrial, he has not started counseling him at Majnu Ka Tilla yet. He said, “I do not know how much truth is there in the fact that he has been kept in a separate place for his own safety as other inmates would kill him. But if this is the reason why are they not providing him personal care, he needs special attention”. Another child care professional, who works at the Sewa Kutir home’s drug de-addiction centre said, “To let the juvenile watch television at will is not right. When he saw the Delhi gangrape verdict on television, it could have had a negative impact on him. He might have thought that ‘I got away so easily. I was saved from being hanged’”

Amod Kanth, General Secretary of Prayas and former Chairperson of DCPCR – who argued the case along with the defence counsel for the “juvenile” to be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act – also agrees. “If that is so, it is a bad option. You need to put him through a rigorous regime of reformation, education and intense counseling. When he has been put in a reform home, how can he be treated like an isolated case? Why should the jail authorities act in a panic? At the end of the day, the purpose of his stay at the juvenile home is reformation, restoration in the mainstream, rehabilitation and being fruitful and productive to the society.”

The superintendent of Majnu Ka Tilla, Ramesh Dhanwaria refused to answer any questions on the reform activities at the home. He asked us to speak to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. He also refused permission for me to speak with any of the welfare officers or the sole counselor.

Even the welfare officers who prepare reports on the progress of the juveniles and look after their needs are hired on a contractual basis. The short duration of their counseling term in the home does not allow them to develop a long relationship with the juveniles they are reforming. The officer we spoke to said that there are times when the inmates launch planned assaults on the officers. Drug peddling is rampant within the home. We were told that often the guards provide drugs to inmates in order to keep them under control.

Last month, a bunch of juveniles pelted bricks and stones through the barbed wires at neighbouring shopkeepers demanding cigarettes, bidis and match-boxes. Not quite the activities one would expect from inmates of a reform home.

As stated earlier, the “juvenile” was tried according to the law and under the JJ Act. There was the hope that after being given the right reformation and rehabilitation, he would be able to enter society a changed man, never to repeat this or any other crime again. But this very reform and rehabilitation seems to be missing. Going by the brutality of the crime (not to mention the carpenter who was robbed right before the gangrape took place), one would expect that the relevant ministry and organisation would take sufficient steps to monitor this “juvenile”.

Experts who have worked closely on the case tell us that if such preferential treatment is continued to be given to the accused and he is not put through a correctional regime, his chances of becoming a more hardened criminal when he is released cannot be ruled out. We might indeed have an Indian Jon Venables on our hand. Venables is a criminal who has been held up as a case against reform and rehabilitation for juveniles. As a 10-year old child killer who received a 15-year term, Venable received “psychotherapy, education, and consistent strict discipline”. He was released under a new identity before his term ended as “he was no longer a threat to society” and had received his “A-levels and had an ability to speak fluently about his emotions and remorse”. Yet, he has remained a repeat criminal, convicted again for accessing and distributing child pornography – and released again. And it is these cases which should stand as examples for the need for effective reform.  And let’s not forget that Jon Venables was 10 years old when he killed 3-year-old James Bulger. The “juvenile” in the Delhi gangrape is almost 18 years old. To reform him will be even tougher.

Yet, even the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) are hardly bothered about the case. We spoke to a DCPCR member, Sashank Sekhar to ask if they were monitoring the progress in reforming the “juveline”. He said, “There is no need for us to do so now as he is in the observation home. We cannot monitor a juvenile separately”. So who is responsible for monitoring his rehabilitation? Your guess is as good as mine.

All responsibility – be it of the Juvenile Justice board or the Observation Home authorities or the DCPCR seems to have ended after putting the stamp of “juvenile” on the accused and packing him off to Majnu Ka Tilla.

What after that? No one seems to have a clue.

The “juvenile” should thank the courts, the law of the land and the authorities concerned for granting him a law-enforced holiday for his own safety and security. Most teenagers and young adults would be blessed to be living his life right now.