Above: A TV grab of a juvenile home in Tamil Nadu. Photo: YouTube  

The Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta on Friday (September 15) took cognizance of inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons, especially juveniles who are in observation homes or special homes or places of safety in terms of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and ordered that the government has to pay compensation for children who die unnaturally in such homes.

The top court also ordered that it was the duty of the chief justice of the high court of the state to look into this.

The petition has asked for a manual to be prepared by the relevant ministry, taking into consideration the living conditions and other issues of juveniles in such homes or institutions.

Among the issues raised the top court’s notice was on those relating to unnatural deaths in jails, inadequacy of staff and the training of staff.

On Friday the bench also directed the ministry to consider all the recommendations which have already been submitted for the Juvenile Justice Act.

—India Legal Bureau​