Apprehension, Bail and Inquiry Under the 2000 Act

In one line

A juvenile is placed with the special juvenile police unit on apprehension, his parent and probation officer are told at once, he is released on bail whatever the offence unless one of three welfare grounds applies, and the Board completes its inquiry within four months.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: by section 12(1) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, when a person accused of a bailable or non-bailable offence and apparently a juvenile is arrested or detained or appears or is brought before a Board, he shall notwithstanding the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or any other law be released on bail with or without surety, unless there appear reasonable grounds for believing that the release is likely to bring him into association with any known criminal, or expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or that his release would defeat the ends of justice.

Section 10, apprehension

Sub-section (1). As soon as a juvenile in conflict with law is apprehended by police, he shall be placed under the charge of the special juvenile police unit or the designated police officer, who shall immediately report the matter to a member of the Board.

Sub-section (2). The State Government may make rules to provide for the persons, including registered voluntary organisations, through whom a juvenile may be produced before the Board, and for the manner in which he may be sent to an observation home.

Note the two duties in sub-section (1) and their timing. The juvenile goes to a specialised unit at once, and the Board is told immediately, not at the next sitting.

What 2006 did. Section 9 of Act 33 of 2006 substituted the whole of sub-section (1). The officer must now produce the juvenile before the Board without any loss of time but within twenty four hours of his apprehension, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of apprehension to the Board. And the substituted sub-section carries a proviso: "in no case, a juvenile in conflict with law shall be placed in a police lockup or lodged in a jail."

Those two additions are the ancestors of section 10 of the 2015 Act, which carries both the twenty four hour rule and the prohibition.

Section 11, the custodian

Any person in whose charge a juvenile is placed under the Act shall, while the order is in force, have the control over the juvenile as he would have if he were his parent, and shall be responsible for his maintenance, and the juvenile continues in his charge for the period stated by the competent authority, notwithstanding that he is claimed by his parents or any other person.