Probe against cops for sending large number of juveniles to Tihar

The Delhi Police on Tuesday told the high court that it had ordered a probe against policemen responsible for sending a large number of juveniles to Tihar jail, meant for adult convicts and undertrials. Harish V Nair reports.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday told the high court that it had ordered a probe against policemen responsible for sending a large number of juveniles to Tihar jail, meant for adult convicts and undertrials.

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In an affidavit before a bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath, the police said on May 8 that the special cell (women and children) had forwarded to additional commissioners and deputy commissioners of police of 11 districts, a list of 136 inmates who were found to be juveniles after an age test.

The affidavit asked the police to institute an enquiry against officers responsible for sending such juveniles at Tihar.

The Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) provided the list to the police following a PIL filed by lawyer and child rights activist Anant Asthana. The PIL said many juveniles ended up in Tihar due to the casual attitude of the police. The police affidavit came after DLSA member secretary Brijesh Sethi informed the court that Delhi Police had not complied with the court order of May 11, 2012.

“Delhi Police are supposed to file an age memo with the file while producing an accused before a magistrate. But in a number of cases, we see that the file does not contain the age memo,” Sethi told the court.

The police said it had asked the Delhi government’s department of women and child welfare to provide 26 social workers to 13 special juvenile police units so that they could work more efficiently.

During inspections in December 2012 in Tihar and Rohini jails, over 1,300 persons suspected to be juveniles were examined, and 136 were found to have been wrongly incarcerated in prisons meant for adults.