Introduction
India has a large population under the age of 18 years. About one-third of the Indian population is below the age of 18, and according to a UNICEF study, the number is 437 million. According to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, a child below the age of 18 years is termed a “Juvenile”. The aim of juvenile justice is rooted in the fundamental rights of children. It emphasizes prevention as a primary objective and considers custodial measures as a last resort, to be applied for the shortest possible duration.
This approach takes into account the welfare of the child as well as the impact on the victim and the community. A substantial number of children in conflict with the law are, in fact, victims of socio-economic deprivation, often denied access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, shelter, and protection. The juvenile justice system, therefore, seeks to rehabilitate rather than punish, making it restorative in nature rather than retributive, addressing the root causes of delinquent behavior and promoting their reintegration into society.
Rising Juvenile Trend In J&K
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publishes annual data on crimes committed by juveniles in its Crime in India reports. The analysis of NCRB data reveals a declining trend in crime rates by juveniles from 2013 to 2022. In the same timeframe, reported crimes involving juveniles saw a notable fall, decreasing from 43,506 to 30,555. This represents 12,951 fewer cases, amounting to an overall reduction of nearly 30%.
What is concerning for us is that the trend in J&K is the opposite. In J&K, with a total of 49.1 lakh children (2011 census), 171 juveniles constituting 0.57% of 29,768 total juveniles in conflict with the law were recorded in 2020. This figure rose to 323 out of 31,170 (1.03%) in 2021 and further increased to 361 out of 30,555 (1.18%) in 2022. The figures, according to NCRB, are not only concerning but also alarming, since children are considered assets of future generations.
Conflict
The initial legislation for the care and protection of children in conflict with the law in J&K came in 1997 in the form of the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice Act. It came one decade after India enacted the JJ Act, 1986, and this act was amended from time to time to fit societal changes. But the act itself seemed futile as it was not being implemented properly.
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), after visiting Srinagar, Budgam, Shopian, Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam, Ganderbal, and Jammu between May and July 2010, released its fact-finding report named “Juveniles of Jammu and Kashmir: Unequal Before the Law & Denied Justice in Custody.” The report painted a troubling picture. At the R.S. Pura Juvenile Home, children were being held without trial, never even brought before a court. For girls, the situation was worse since there was not a single juvenile home for them in the entire state; they were automatically sent to police lockups or adult prisons.
The mass uprising in the Kashmir Valley from June to September 2010 shone a spotlight on this grim reality, revealing how the Public Safety Act (PSA) was being used against children. But, as the ACHR notes, this was not new. For years, minors have been arrested under the PSA, kept in police lockups and prisons alongside adults, and tried in regular courts as if they were grown men and women. The report also found that in Jammu and Kashmir, there was no Juvenile Justice Board or Child Welfare Committee. As a result, minors were brought before regular courts and, at times, even tried as adults, in direct violation of the rule of law, the JJ Act of India, and India’s international commitments.
When a juvenile is accused alongside an adult in the same case, they are often tried together, ignoring the clear legal safeguard that such trials must be held separately for children. With the operation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, after the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the state is still trying to fill systematic loopholes in order to implement child protection services.
There has been a rise in the number of children in conflict with the law, as mentioned above, and this can be attributed to many factors including negative peer pressure, substance use, socio-economic conditions, and exposure to violence. The poor and ill-handling of juveniles in conflict with the law always results in negative consequences and often contributes to persistent criminal behavior among juveniles.
According to a study conducted, most children in conflict with the law in Kashmir are from low socio-economic backgrounds. This observation is consistent with previous research, which has also found higher rates of juvenile delinquency among those from disadvantaged socio-economic groups. Some suggest that the development of nuclear families in Kashmir is one of the major reasons that children are committing heinous crimes, as earlier there used to be a tradition of joint families in Kashmir. But after the revocation of Article 370, the joint family system is degrading, which is affecting the children.
A more appropriate reason is that the families of children in J&K have suffered material and economic loss in the conflict, while in some instances, the sole breadwinners of the family were impaired or even killed. This ultimately affected the children mentally and deprived them educationally, increasing their vulnerability to criminal behavior. The 1996 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report on the Impact of Armed Conflicts revealed that over one billion children — about one in every six people on the planet — were living in regions affected by conflict. Jammu and Kashmir, gripped by more than three decades of unrest, is no exception. Here too, children have silently borne the brunt of prolonged violence, becoming some of the least recognized yet most deeply affected victims of the region’s turmoil.
The situation in Jammu and Kashmir represents a deep and prolonged failure of the legal and justice system. While the whole country celebrates the decline in juvenile crime rates, Jammu and Kashmir stands in stark contrast, with the number of juvenile crimes rising — indicative of moral and systemic failure. Children are not born criminals; they are created by systemic violence, economic deprivation, and the failure of legal mechanisms. The juvenile justice system itself, through its absence and abuse, becomes a tool of further trauma rather than rehabilitation.
Ultimately, these children are not in conflict with the law; they are casualties of a much larger political conflict that has stolen their childhood and future. True solutions are impossible without addressing this root cause.
