Section 15 in Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2014
15. Post-production processes by the Board.
(1)On production of the juvenile, the Board shall review the information provided under sub-rule (1) of rule 12 and pass the following order in the first summary enquiry:-(a)dispose off the case, if on the consideration of documents and records submitted at the time of first summary enquiry, the grounds for the juvenile to be in conflict with law appears to be unfounded or where the juvenile is involved in infraction of law which is de minimus, and may treat such a juvenile as a child in need of care and protection and transfer to the concerned committee ;(b)release the juvenile in the supervision and custody of parent or guardian or fit person or fit institution with the direction to present the juvenile for the inquiry on the next date ;(c)place the juvenile in an observation home or place of safety or tit institution or with a fit person pending inquiry, only in cases of juvenile's involvement in a serious offence ;(d)in all cases of release pending inquiry, the Board shall notify the next date of hearing, not later than 15 days from the first summary enquiry and seek the Social Background report prepared by Police and the Social Investigation report prepared by the concerned Probation Officer.(2)The Board shall take the following steps to ensure fair, speedy and child-friendly inquiry:-(a)at the time of first production, the Board or the individual member of the Board, before whom juvenile is produced for the first time, shall satisfy itself that the juvenile in conflict with law has not been subjected to any illegal detention or torture or ill treatment by the police or any other person including a lawyer or a Probation Officer and pass appropriate orders in case of any such allegation/ill treatment after recording complaint or statement of juvenile in this regard;(b)in all cases under the Act the proceedings shall be conducted in a manner as simple as possible, in the language understood by the juvenile and in a child-friendly atmosphere:(c)every juvenile brought before the Board shall be given an opportunity to be heard and to participate in all the proceedings and it shall be duty of the Board to ensure that every juvenile is represented by a lawyer of his choice and if there is no lawyer representing a juvenile. Board shall assign a legal aid lawyer to represent the juvenile and adequate opportunity shall be given to the juvenile to interact with his lawyer before Board conducts the hearing ;(d)the Board shall explain to the juvenile the content of allegations made out against him and record his detailed response verbatim and also ensure that the juvenile is not coerced or influenced to plead guilty;(e)cases of offences entailing punishment of imprisonment of less than 7 years for adults may be disposed through summary proceedings or inquiry while in cases of offences entailing punishment of imprisonment of 7 years or more for adults due process of inquiry in detail may follow;(f)even in cases of inquiry pertaining to offences prescribing imprisonment of less than 7 years as punishment for adults the Board is required to follow the procedure of trial in cases where summons are issued.(3)When witnesses are produced for examination in inquiry under section 15 of the Act relating to a juvenile, the Board shall keep in mind that the inquiry is not to be conducted in the spirit of strict adversarial proceedings and it shall use the powers conferred under Jammu and Kashmir Evidence Act. Samvat 1977 so as to question the juvenile and proceed with the presumptions that favour the juvenile's right to be restored.(4)After being admitted to bail, if the juvenile fails to appear before the Board on any date fixed for hearing, and no application is moved for exemption on his behalf, or no cogent reason is found for granting exemption, the Board shall instead of issuing warrants against the juveniles issue direction to the Juvenile or Child Welfare Officer and the Station 1 louse Officer for the production of juvenile.(5)If the Juvenile or Child Welfare Officer fails to produce the juvenile before the Board even after issuance of order under rule 13 (4) of these rules, the Board shall instead of issuing process under section 82 of Code of Criminal Procedure, Samvat 1989, pass appropriate orders under section 23 of the Act.(6)While examining a juvenile and recording his statement, the Board shall be free to address the juvenile in a appropriate manner, in order to put the juvenile at ease and to elicit the true facts, not only in respect of the offence of which the juvenile is accused, but also in respect of the home and social surroundings and the influence to which the juvenile might have been subjected. .(7)The Board shall rely upon social background report provided by the police under rule 12(1) of these rules, the social investigation report prepared by the Probation Officer or Voluntary Organization and the evidence produced by the parties for arriving at a conclusion about the juvenile.(8)Every inquiry by the Board shall be completed within a period of four months after the first summary inquiry. Only in exceptional cases involving transnational or inter-state criminality, large number of accused and inordinate delay in production of witnesses, the period of enquiry may be extended by the Board up to a period of further two months by recording of the reasons by the Board in the order.(9)In all other cases except where the nature of alleged offence is serious, delay beyond four to six months shall amount to the termination of the inquiry.(10)Where the inquiry is delayed beyond six months on account of serious nature of the offence alleged to have been committed by the juvenile, the Board shall send a report of the case to the Chief Judicial Magistrate stating the reason for delay as well as steps being taken to expedite the inquiry. On receipt of such report, Chief Judicial Magistrate may issue necessary directions to expedite the inquiry.
