Srinagar: Satya Pal Malik, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir is likely to bring in a new juvenile justice law after repealing the existing Act which was introduced in 2013 and implemented last year, reported the Indian Express.
The new law, for the first time, has a provision on adoption, which is seen as a “breach in J&K’s Permanent Resident Act”.
The Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2018, that has been finalised by the Governor’s administration, will be placed before the State Administrative Council (SAC).
Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi, chairman of the state government’s selection-cum-oversight committee — an apex body for monitoring and evaluation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) — said his committee was still in the process of conducting public deliberations with various stakeholders.
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“We have already recommended that this (law) should be restricted to state subjects. This should not offend state subject law. There are two concerns. It should not erode or eclipse personal law. Our second concern is that it is likely to offend state subject law and change the demography… We recommended that it should be made subject to state subject law so all adoptions from the state should be of state subject and whosoever adopts should do so from state subject only,” he said.
On Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference asserted that the Governor administration should refrain from making changing in the state juvenile laws.
In a statement, party Chief Spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi while expressing dismay over the incompatible intervention of SAC into the state’s juvenile justice act said, “As reported by some media, Governor Administration is mulling change in the juvenile justice laws. We however urge the incumbent governor administration to have wider consultations on the issue. The governor should carry out wider consultations across the political spectrum of state on this issue,” he said.
