Juvenile prisoners demand justice system

At a program organized by the Office of the High Government Attorney at the Jayendu Juvenile Correctional Home in Duduwa Rural Municipality, the children participating presented various complaints and suggestions regarding the treatment during the investigation, case process, education, legal facilities, and infrastructure of the correctional home.

Chaitra 22, 2082

Rupa Gahatraj

Juvenile prisoners demand justice system

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Children involved in legal disputes have said that education, skills, legal facilities and speedy justice are necessary in the juvenile correctional home. They complained that although the Child and Girl Child Act 2075 BS requires cases to be resolved within three months, it is not being implemented in practice. 

In a discussion organized in Nepalgunj, it was found that the case of a child in the home has not been decided for 2 years and 5 months. It was informed that the cases of 15 children who have not been decided for more than 1 year, 36 children for more than 6 months and 26 children for more than 3 months are under consideration.  Children from Dang, Rukum, Bardiya, Kailali, Surkhet and Baake districts are among those affected. 

In a program organized by the High Government Attorney's Office at the Jayendu Juvenile Correctional Home in Duduwa Rural Municipality, the children participating in the program presented various complaints and suggestions regarding the treatment during the investigation, case process, education, legal facilities and infrastructure of the correctional home.

The program organized by the High Government Attorney's Office in coordination with Advocacy Forum Nepal and the Children's Correctional Home provided information on juvenile justice, legal procedures and legal consultation. The organizers of the program, the High Government Attorney and legal practitioner advocates, addressed the legal problems and queries raised by the children.

At the program, Associate Attorney Yadunath Sharma highlighted the objectives of the program by informing about the prosecution, advocacy and other justice delivery activities of the office. Assistant Attorney General Karna Bahadur Budhachhetri explained the legal provisions related to child rights and the role of the High Government Attorney's Office in justice delivery.

At the program, Advocate Basanta Gautam, Lumbini Province Coordinator of the Advocacy Forum, provided information about the objectives of juvenile justice, legal standards of juvenile correctional homes, challenges seen in the implementation of juvenile justice, diversion, suspension of sentence, remission of sentence, etc., and the legal provisions and implementation status. Children in the home complained of problems such as torture during investigation, not being able to give voluntary statements, having their statements signed without reading them, being kept in police custody with senior accused, not receiving timely information about the case from the court, and not being present at the hearing. They also informed that long prison sentences are imposed even for unintentional mistakes made in childhood, and 29 children have been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. Children in legal disputes have demanded that legal facilities such as suspension of sentence and parole are not easily available, that there is no school in the home, that children's names and videos are made public despite the legal provision to keep their names confidential, and that 'prisoner' certificates are given when sending them to the home.' Children in legal disputes have demanded that 'reform certificates' be issued. Kishore Sharma, head of the home, said that such programs will help in providing information and reform related to juvenile justice. There are currently 202 children in legal disputes at the Jayendu Home. Of these, 98 are under the age of 18 and 106 are over the age of 18. Of these, 102 have been sentenced and 100 are under trial.

Most of the total are involved in cases related to child abuse (sexual crimes), while others are involved in cases of manslaughter, drug trafficking and theft. Of the 115 people who fled during the Gen-G movement, 65 have returned and 50 are still at large.

Rupa

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