In a first-of-its-kind decision in April, the home department had transferred Shashi Veer to Yerwada Central prison, after the Borstal School in Nashik, where he was staying, claimed that the boy was a bad influence on other children.
Upset over the state government using its special powers to shift a juvenile to a Central prison, the Juvenile Justice Board has sent him back to the juvenile home.
In a first-of-its-kind decision in April, the home department had transferred Shashi Veer to Yerwada Central prison, after the Borstal School in Nashik, where he was staying, claimed that the boy was a bad influence on other children. Veer has 26 cases pending against him, including of robbery and theft. In the last two years, he has fled from the Borstal School twice and from Mumbai's David Sassoon Industrial School for young offenders once. He was caught on all three occasions.
"We have to abide by the court orders. This time, we have sent him to a juvenile home in Yerwada itself, instead of Nashik," said a senior officer from the prison department.
Veer was first arrested in 2014 from Pune, when he was 17 years old, for trial under section 379 (punishment for theft). He was later found involved in several robberies, thefts and dacoities. In an order passed on April 4 this year, the home department used special powers under section 12 of the prison manual of Maharashtra to take the extreme step.
"The main concern of the homes was that the boy was provoking other children to flee. He would disturb them during studies and would not let them reform. Also, an offender like him needs a high security prison," said a senior officer.
As per the manual, section 12 can be applied if an offender detained by the court escapes or is reported by the inspector general to be incorrigible or likely to exercise bad influence on other inmates, or to be more than 20 years of age.
A controversy regarding the age of juveniles had taken shape after the December 16, 2012 Delhi bus gang rape case, wherein a juvenile walked free within two years, as he was a few months short of turning 18 at the time of the incident. As a consequence to the protest, the Union government passed a new Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, replacing the 2000 Act. The new Act, which came in force in January 2016, allows juveniles in conflict with law in the age group of 16–18 and involved in heinous offences to be tried as adults.
(name changed to protect juvenile's identity)
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