An RTI filed by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights with Jail No.7 in Tihar, brought to light the shocking violations of Child Rights and Juvenile Justice in the Tihar Jail. It was found that within a period of 10 months [October 2010 to August 2011], 114 juveniles or children in conflict with the law, were transferred to observation homes after being first lodged in Tihar Jail. Keeping Children in adult jails is in gross violation of the laws of the country and is a major problem to be tackled in ensuring Children’s Rights in India. Attention of Delhi High Court was drawn on the harms faced by juveniles in adult correctional facilities such as jails and the need for proper implementation of the juvenile justice system starting from registration and documentation of proof of birth and police sensitization in WP (C) 8889 of 2011 titled "Court on Its Own Motion vs. Department of Women and Child Development & Ors". A series of consultations were held in this regard by the Delhi State Legal services Authority, acting as the Nodal agency for ensuring compliance of Courts's orders in this case. Finally, the Registrar General Birth and Death, Government of India inter alia agreed that since the JJB is also manned by the Magistrate of first class, the determination of age by JJB shall be accepted by the Registrars of Birth of Delhi or of any other State and the birth shall be registered in the register of the place of birth and birth certificate issued. On 14 January 2015, the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi accordingly passed directions for necessary procedures to be worked out for issuance of birth certificate to children in the juvenile justice system, covering issues such as waiver of the delayed registration fee and recording the birth certificates so received from outside Delhi. The first Gazette Notification in this regard thus comes from the Office of the Chief Registrar, Govt. of NCT Delhi, dated 16 October 2015. This is a huge step forward and something for other state governments to follow. Read More…