The city government and the police today informed the Delhi High Court that they have arrived at a consensus on setting up of a special unit to tackle emergent and other safety and security issues in observation homes housing juveniles.
A bench headed by Justice S Ravindra Bhat was told by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Siddharth Luthra that there is concurrence between the departments involved and Delhi police and they have come up with a safety arrangement for three months.
After three months the arrangement would be reviewed and any gap would be rectified, Luthra said.
The ASG also said that under the latest policy, juvenile homes can contact the command room, headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, in case of emergent situations, while for other issues they can get in touch with the nodal officers who are Joint Commissioner-level officers.
After hearing the submissions of the ASG, the bench observed that in a riot-like situation in juvenile homes, the officials there should be able to call for forces immediately, just like normal people are able to dial 100 when they need police assistance.
It also observed "there is a volatility there (juvenile homes) and it has to be handled properly".
This prompted the ASG to submit that a juvenile home of a specific range need not call the command room, but rather can directly contact the nodal officer of that area in emergent situations where police force would be required.
Earlier on May 2, the high court had asked the city government and the police to iron out their differences and come out with a joint proposal on setting up of a special unit to tackle emergent and other safety and security issues in observation homes housing juveniles.
The Department of Women and Child Development of the city government had, in a status report, said it had requested Delhi Police to designate a Joint Commissioner-level officer as a nodal person to coordinate with it on issues relating to safety and security of observation homes.
