NEW DELHI: A Delhi court sentenced a juvenile to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the rape of a 10-year-old girl in 2017, emphasizing the need for reformation rather than immediate release.
Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar highlighted major gaps in the Juvenile Justice system, urging the government to streamline the roles of various authorities responsible for rehabilitating children in conflict with the law (CCL).
The juvenile, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was convicted under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for aggravated penetrative sexual assault, along with a seven-year sentence for kidnapping. The court ordered these sentences to run concurrently and awarded the survivor a compensation of Rs 10.5 lakh.
Expressing concern over the lack of rehabilitation measures for them, Judge Dagar said despite spending 79 days in an observation home, the juvenile did not get an Individual Care Plan or rehabilitative services.
“The reports provided under the Individual Care Plan were perfunctory, lacking substance, and had limited value due to their lack of a rehabilitative focus,” the court observed. Judge Dagar criticised the authorities’ lack of “role clarity” in managing CCL cases and noted that attention to operational issues seemed severely lacking.