The National Legal Services Authority on Thursday launched a pan-India campaign to identify juveniles in prisons and provide them with essential legal assistance.
The campaign — ‘Restoring the Youth’ — was inaugurated by Supreme Court judge and NALSA Executive Chairman, Justice Sanjiv Khanna. It will end on February 27.
The campaign will be aimed at identifying individuals currently incarcerated who were potentially minors at the time of the offence, assisting them in filing necessary applications for claiming juvenility before the appropriate court and facilitating their transfer to Child Care Institutions in identified cases.
Justice Khanna emphasised that circumstances play a major role in someone becoming a criminal and that no one is born a criminal.
“The path towards criminality is often a result and consequence of experiences and circumstances mostly shaped by neglect, external influences or lack of guidance,” he said.
Santosh Snehi Mann, Member Secretary, NALSA, highlighted the progress made in the last two decades while acknowledging persistent concerns.
NALSA said that “Restoring the Youth” is a call to action, aligning with the principles of justice and the safeguarding of children’s rights, marking a significant step towards a more humane and developmentally appropriate treatment of juvenile offenders.
“Despite significant legal frameworks for the care and protection of children in conflict with the law, the challenge of ensuring access to justice persists. The campaign responds to a plea received by NALSA from a convict undergoing life imprisonment, claiming to have been a minor at the time of arrest in 2003,” the NALSA said in a statement.
