Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)

Act, 2015

Children in Need of Care and Protection

 Meaning
• ‘Child in need of care and protection’ means a
child –
(i) who is found without any home or settled
place of abode and without any ostensible
means of subsistence; or
(ii) who is found working in contravention of
labour laws for the time being in force or is
found begging or, living on the street; or
Cont.
(iii) who resides with a person (whether a
guardian of the child or not) and such person -
(a) has injured, exploited, abused or neglected
the child or has violated any other law for the
time being in force meant for the protection of
child; or
(b) has threatened to kill, injure, exploit or
abuse the child and there is a reasonable
likelihood of the threat being carried out; or
.

(c) has killed, abused, neglected or exploited

some other child or children and there is a
reasonable likelihood of the child in question
being killed, abused, exploited or neglected by
that person;
(iv) who is mentally ill or mentally or physically
challenged or suffering from terminal or
incurable disease, having no one to support or
look after or having parents or guardian unfit
to take care, if found so by the Board or the
Committee; or
.

(v) who has a parent or guardian and such

parent or guardian is found to be unfit or
incapacitated, by the Committee or the Board,
to care for and protect the safety and well-
being of the child; or (vi) who does not have
parents and no one is willing to take care of, or
whose parents have abandoned or
surrendered him; or
(vii) who is missing and run away child, or
whose parents cannot be found after making
reasonable inquiry as may be prescribed; or
.

(viii) who has been or is being or likely to be

abused, tortured or exploited for the purpose
of sexual abuse or illegal acts; or
(ix) who is found vulnerable and is likely to be
inducted into drug abuse or trafficking; or
(x) who is being or is likely to be abused for
unconscionable gains; or
(xi) who is a victim of or affected by any armed
conflict, civil unrest or natural calamity; or
.

(xii) who is at imminent risk of marriage and

whose parents, family members, guardian and
any other persons are likely to be responsible
for solemnization of such marriage’ [section 2
(14)].
The aforementioned definition should be
strictly followed – it is not that any child can
be brought into the juvenile justice system as
a ‘child in need of care and protection’.
 Waiver of child into the criminal justice
system

• The juvenile justice system acknowledging

children’s physiological and psychological
characteristics, concentrated on the
circumstances of the child, rather than the
offence, but this has been drastically altered
by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act 2015.
.

Under the JJ Act, offences are classified into

‘petty offences’ [section 2 (45)],
‘serious offences’ [section 2 (54)] and
‘heinous offences’ [section 2 (33)], and
children are differentially treated as per the
category of offence they are alleged to have
committed.
.

• A child above 16 years of age who is alleged to

have committed a heinous offence, may be
waived by the Board into the criminal justice
system after conducting a preliminary
assessment [section 15 (1)].
 What is the purpose of the preliminary
assessment?
It is to assess the child’s ‘mental and physical
capacity to commit such offence, ability to
understand the consequences of the offence
and the circumstances in which he allegedly
committed the offence’. The Board is not
equipped to carry out such assessment,
hence, ‘assistance of experienced
psychologists or psycho-social workers or
other experts’ should be taken.
.

• On completion of Preliminary Assessment, the

Board may handle the case under the JJ Act
[section 15(2)], or may pass an order to treat the
child as an adult and transfer the matter to the
Children’s Court [section 18(3)].
• Sessions Court has been designated as Children’s
Court to handle such cases. Children’s Courts are
empowered to decide whether a child produced
before it should be treated as an adult under the
criminal justice system or a child in conflict with
the law under the juvenile justice system and
‘conduct an inquiry as a Board’ (section 19).
.

• Pending trial such child is to be placed in a

Place of Safety [section 49].
• On conclusion of trial of a child treated as an
adult, the Children’s Court on finding him
guilty, should pass an order ‘considering the
special needs of the child, the tenets of fair
trial and maintaining a child friendly
atmosphere’ [section 19 (1) (i)].
• A child cannot be ‘sentenced to death or for
life imprisonment without the possibility of
release’ (section 21).
.

• A child sentenced by the Children’s Court is to

undergo his sentence in a place of safety till he
attains 21 years of age, at which stage an
evaluation of such child is to be conducted to
ascertain whether he has ‘undergone
reformative changes and if the child can be a
contributing member of the society’ [section
20 (1)], and on found to be so, the Children’s
Court releases the child on conditions [section
20 (2) (i)], and if not, the child is transferred to
jail to complete the remainder of his term
[section 20 (2) (ii)].
.

• A child in need of care and protection is to be

produced before the Child Welfare Committee
within 24 hours. The Act provides for
mandatory reporting of a child found
separated from his/her guardian. Non
reporting has been treated as a punishable
offence. The Child Welfare Committee is to
send the child in need of care and protection
to the appropriate Child Care Institution and
direct a Social Worker, Case Worker or the
Child Welfare Officer to conduct the social
investigation within 15 days.
.

• A child in need of care and protection will be placed

in a Children‘s Home for care, treatment, education,
training, development and rehabilitation.
• The Act provides for Open Shelters for Children in
need of community support on short term basis for
protecting them from abuse or keeping them away
from a life on the streets.
• The Child Welfare Committee could recognize a
facility to be a Fit Facility to temporarily take the
responsibility of a child.
• The Specialized Adoption Agency is to take care of
the rehabilitation of orphans, abandoned or
surrendered children.
Procedure In Relation To Children In Need Of
Care and Protection
• Sections from 31 to 38 (CHAPTER VI) deal with this
procedure. This procedure involves the following aspects.
• It includes the procedures like Production before
Committee; Mandatory reporting regarding a child found
separated from guardian;
• Offence of non-reporting; Penalty for non-reporting;
Surrender of children;
• Orders passed regarding a child in need of care and
protection;
• Procedure for declaring a child legally free for adoption
.

A Child Welfare Committee, referred to as ‘the

Committee’, handles cases of children in need
of care and protection – rehabilitation,
adoption, reintegration, restoration [section
1(4) (ii)].