Editorial
Juvenile offenders
Court order must be complied with
It is a disconcerting news that though there is a High Court order that explicitly tells the authorities to keep the juvenile accused in correction centres instead of normal jails with adult criminals, the authorities concerned are showing total disregard to the law. In a recent report published in this daily it has been mentioned that at least 511 growing children have been kept in 57 jails across the country ignoring the Children's Act, 1974. On the other hand, though the capacity of three particular correction centres is 700, there are only 237 children in those centres at the moment. This one example tells of the magnitude of mismanagement and some form of apathy embedded in the people concerned. According to the existing law, which was further reinforced through a High Court order in 2003, all juvenile accused are to be kept in correction centres or similar approved homes under special care until their cases are resolved in a court of law. These measures are taken so that in no case these growing children are kept in the same premises with hardened adult criminals who have the tendency to exploit them physically, mentally, economically and worst of all, sexually. Thus, the rationale behind separating them from the adult criminals is to ensure their normal growth in an environment free from any such traumatic encounters. It needs no emphasising that the environment inside the prisons in this country, or for that matter in any country, is devoid of any humane characteristics. The number of juvenile accused is increasing quite alarmingly in this country for various psycho-social and economic reasons and these need to be addressed on a priority basis. Only in 2006 a total of 1,810 children were kept behind bars and that this year the number is increasing, more so in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi districts. We are sure a country-wide survey to look into the factors contributing to pushing the juveniles to breaking laws would reveal the answers as to how the problems can be solved. We hope the authorities concerned would move the juvenile accused immediately to the correction centres and arrange for their trials without further delay.
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