GUWAHATI, May 7 - Over 2,100 cases are pending with the 27 Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) and the Child Welfare Committees (CWSs) in the State, a fact that has raised serious concern among various stakeholders including the senior members of the judiciary.
A status report released here today on the inaugural day of the two-day State-level Conclave on the Juvenile (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 32015, with special focus on children in conflict with law, stated that as on March 2016, while 1,632 cases were pending with various JJBs, the figure of such cases in CWCs stood at 494.
Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, Justice Ajit Singh, too, expressed concern over the number of pending cases dealing with children in conflict with law.
He said, �It is certainly a matter of concern. Although the statistics are not alarming, things may become so if the issues related to fast disposal of cases are not addressed now.�
The status report divulged that the JJB, Nagaon, has the highest number of such pending cases, followed by Kokrajhar and Sonitpur. As far as the CWCs are concerned, the chart of pending cases is topped by Kamrup (Metro) with 87 cases, followed by Sivasagar (52) and Sonitpur (46).
The report also stated that administration of juvenile justice remains a major concern, primarily because of the shortage of observation homes.
Another finding suggested that majority of the children caught on the wrong foot till 2014 in Assam lived with their parents/guardians and only a few of them were homeless.
Further, of the 553 juveniles in conflict with law, majority of these families had annual income below Rs 25,000 (418) while the annual income of the family of 108 of them was stated to be between Rs 25001 and Rs 50,000.
