9,681 Children Wrongly Incarcerated In India’s Adult Prisons Over Six Years: Study

New Delhi: As many as 9,681 children have been ‘wrongly’ incarcerated in adult prisons in India over six years, a study by legal justice non-profit iProbono, has found. The study, titled “Incarceration of Children In Prisons in India” relies on data obtained through 124 Right to Information (RTI) applications filed between April 2022 and March 2023 across 28 states and two union territories.

“The data we received indicates that at least 9,681 children were wrongly incarcerated in adult prisons across the country between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2021,” reads the report launched by two children in conflict with the law (CCLs) who lost crucial years of their lives lodged in prisons at New Delhi’s India Islamic Cultural Center on May 11.

“For six years, I thought the jail would be the end of my life. I lost my childhood,” one of the children was quoted as saying, Hindustan Times reported.

Justice S Ravindra Bhat, former Supreme Court judge and former chairperson of the Supreme Court Juvenile Justice Committee, delivered the keynote address. Gitanjali Prasad, lead author of the report and advisor to iProbono, presented the context to and main findings of the study.

A press statement issued by iProbono said that the study examines the effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) which legally mandates that a child alleged to have committed an offence, or found guilty of an offence, is to be placed in an appropriate juvenile home – such as an observation home, special home, or a place of safety – and not an adult prison.