‘Juveniles in Kashmir denied justice’

In a stark revelation on the grim human rights scenario in Kashmir, a fact finding report by New Delhi based Asian Centre for Human Rights has termed the situation of juveniles in Kashmir as the worst in India. The report, which happens to be the first ever documentation on juvenile justice situation in India’s conflict-ridden areas, states that minors in Kashmir continue to be illegally detained under Public Safety Act (PSA) that provides for up to two years of preventive detention. In absence of juvenile facilities for minor boys and girls, a brazen violation of 1997 J&K Juvenile Justice Act, minors are locked up in prisons with adults. The report has documented few cases in which the minors have been detained in violation of Juvenile Justice Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Dozens of minors have been detained by the authorities over the last three years. Many of them have alleged that they were ill treated, beaten and abused during their detentions at Kashmir’s only Juvenile Home.