NEW DELHI: Seeking a confession about an alleged crime committed by a juvenile is ‘unconstitutional’ as a presumption is raised at the pre-trial stage itself that the child has committed the offence,’ the High Court said.
It said that securing the confession of the juvenile in conflict with the law is beyond the scope of a report of the preliminary assessment to be prepared under the Juvenile Justice Act.
A bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal said that under clause 3 of the report it can be clearly noted that a confession is sought to be extracted from a child as to how the offence was committed and the reasons thereof.
“This manner of seeking a confession from the child is unconstitutional and beyond the scope of a report of the preliminary assessment to be prepared under Section 15 of the JJ Act,” the bench said.
Section 15 of the JJ Act provides that in case a child, between 16 to 18 years of age, has committed a heinous offence, the Juvenile Justice Board may conduct an assessment to check his mental and physical capacity to conduct such an act.
The bench also noted that the probation officer is required to fill out a form that relates to the preparation of the Social Investigation Report for children in conflict with the law. It said the two questions regarding the alleged role of the child and reason for committing the offence were ‘incorrect as a presumption is raised at the pre-trial stage itself that the child has committed the offence’.