A bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said that juveniles cannot be kept with adult accused and convicts inside prisons.
The court, meanwhile, was informed that over 500 juveniles are kept along with adult inmates.
"Around 392 juveniles are kept in jail number seven and 104 minors are there in jail number 2 and eleven minor girls are lodged in jail number 6," a lawyer told the court.
Earlier, the court had taken suo-moto cognizance of the issue after being informed by a team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) that on a visit to Tihar Jail complex it was prime facie found that out of 278 prisoners who were spoken to more than 100 were juveniles.
The court had expressed concern over the "startling revelation" and had said that it intended to frame guidelines to be followed by police and magistrates in cases involving minors.
"This startling revelation clearly demonstrates that neither proper inquiry is being conducted by the police at the time of arresting or by the Magistrates when such prisoners are produced before these Magistrates.
"Once it is found that such prisoners were juveniles, sending them to jail even for a day amounts to denial of their fundamental right and right to liberty," the court had said. (More) PTI PNM SJK
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