As I stand next to a list of things, I am to write I recall the place, the people I met on a weekend where most of the kids were out in the hills of Harwan, enjoying in the water under the shadow of Chinar and not very far just next to the police station in the lap of hills stood a white building where about a new number of boys from age 15 to 18 were living for about two days to 2 years.
A juvenile institution was what my weekend was all about. Juvenile institutions are the greatest creations of mankind for mankind. They are the institutions meant for the re-formation of kids who have committed serious offences. We often might misunderstand it as a prison for juveniles which in no case is true at all as they are based completely on a different philosophical concept where the kids under the age of 18 are taught to re-establish their life and learn to be better citizens of the society.
Every coin has two sides and similar to that our lives aren’t any different and offence can be committed/done by anyone, irrespective of what economic class they belong to. We live in times where certain things can be assured but there are a lot of things which still remain unheard. As the hours of my day unfolded one after another I gave it a thought as to what made the juvenile institution of Kashmir different from the other Juvenile institutions which are present all over the world and the answer stood right in front of me, I recalled meeting the boy who wanted to be a photographer but ended up in the reformation institution as he happens to be the victim of conflict. The World is filled with all sorts of offenders varying from pocket-pickers to killers who are rightfully dealt in accordance to the law but the difference can be seen when the psychology of a child is disturbed due to the chaos caused by the conflict.
It is no lie that Kashmir witnessed unprecedented political uncertainty in the past and changing times have changed a lot of things. These changes have been witnessed in juvenile institutions too where from having just one juvenile institution we are growing towards the availability of juvenile institutions in all the districts of Kashmir with sufficient education where the Juvenile delinquents are made aware of the rights they hold and are further made aware of how they aren’t going to be in any manner treated like prisoners rather a child friendly approach is used to help them understand and not fall into any guilt which can leave a psychological scar. Understanding the juvenile delinquents can be quite a task as when we look from the outer perspective on hearing what sort of offence has been committed we are too quick to preset a judgement irrespective of having the insights of what the child’s mental state has been like, where the child has been all this time and how he/she has been raised. Juvenile offence in Kashmir range from theft to murder cases, unlawful acts, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and sexual violence.
The offences committed by juvenile delinquents have shown a steep rise over the past years because of the changes which go unmonitored by parents and teachers. As mentioned the age of Juvenile delinquents is under 18 and we are aware that a kid is in his/her school during these years and when we talk in terms of parents they look after the kid in terms of various aspects which is providing financial stability, emotional stability & health of the child further a parent is to keep a check of the time their kid spends on any gadget to make sure the child is not becoming a victim or offender in any manner. Further, when we talk in terms of care taken by a teacher, school is addressed as a second learning institution after home and for children who are under the age of 18 spent most of their time is spend in school with their teachers and peers. A teacher’s role is of utmost importance as he/she tends to monitor Childs behavior and further can have better insights of what peer group the child is a part of and what kind of behavior is the child portraying. The parents and teachers can stop a lot of juvenile offences by being more attentive towards the child and hearing them out as to what are the challenges they are facing.
In the process of understanding what leads a child to commit an offence in first place it wasn’t a surprise when the reasons were revealed stating disturbed family dynamics, psychological issues, bad peer influence, social media(when not monitored), conflict and nurture. No kid is raised to commit an offence it is the negligence and poor control which shapes the child and makes it okay for them to believe that certain things are right even if it costs anyone’s life or for that fact their own.
When we look at the juvenile offences committed in Kashmir in terms of gender, the ratio is very low for females which is because of the various reasons varying from not suspecting females as compared to males and letting them go because of the sigma in terms of labelling where people start calling them out rather than helping them reestablish as the lawful citizens. The scenario of female delinquents has been found to be mostly involved in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, where indeed we do witness some partiality only because the society over the years still cannot seem to digest the fact that women can commit offence. Letting go of female delinquents can be really of great harm to the society as they might start believing that they are either ways going to be set-free which can promote their behavior in committing offence.
The Juvenile judiciary has changed over the years from taking a juvenile delinquent to a regular court to juvenile courts which are more children friendly. It is no exception that offenders are approached in a biased manner by certain people and are looked down for the offence they have committed but when we talk in terms of juvenile offenders the dynamics are different as biologically and psychologically they are immature and do not have much of the insights of how to establish a life, in the process when they are in their reformation phase a mature step is to be taken in order to leave a mark that things can be dealt with wise decisions and treating them any different can have a bad impact on them.
Offenders are present everywhere but it doesn’t mean that they are to be looked down upon or provoked.The art of understanding the psychology of a child and help them to be better humans is what counts at the end of the day.The judiciary is well aware of the ways as to how to deal with a juvenile delinquent moreover taking the law in our hands cannot really do any good to the society as to you be your way, and to me mine.
Lastly, our kids are our responsibility and to think that we should let them grow as individuals is a nice thought but being neglectful and not realizing when to stop them is going to be impactful not just to the future which stands before them but the life they are living.
(Author is pursuing Bachelors in Clinical Psychology. E-mail: [email protected])
