Gauhati High Court seeks status report on Assam's draft child protection policy by February 2025

Gauhati High Court directed the Assam Government to provide an update by February 25, 2025, on the status of key initiatives aimed at strengthening the state's child protection and juvenile justice systems. The court instructed the government to inform it about the issuance of notifications for the Draft Rules and Child Protection Policy, the filling of vacancies, and the progress of the ongoing social audit, including a tentative timeline for its completion.

The directive was issued by a division bench comprising Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury during the hearing of Public Interest Litigation (PIL/60/2019). The bench emphasized that in the next hearing, scheduled for February 2025, it would also review the infrastructure challenges faced by the Juvenile Justice Board and the conditions of Children’s Homes across Assam.

The Senior Government Advocate informed the court that both the Draft Child Protection Policy and the Draft Assam State Juvenile Justice Rules, 2024, had been uploaded to the Cabinet portal and circulated to the Judicial, School Education, and Finance Departments for their feedback. The policy is expected to be presented before the Cabinet in the upcoming session.

Further, the Advocate noted that steps are being taken to integrate the Supreme Court’s directions from its August 2024 order in Suo Moto WP(C) 3/2023 into the Draft Juvenile Justice Rules. However, the finalization of these rules and policies, as well as the completion of appointments post-selection, will require additional time.

The Court was also informed about the Assam Government's plans to address the backlog of cases before the Juvenile Justice Boards. The government intends to increase the sittings of certain boards as needed. The Court welcomed this proposal and suggested the government submit its recommendations on rescheduling sittings to allow stakeholders to review the proposed changes.

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