The problem confronting Juvenile Justice Board can be sorted out easily by the Government, by providing facilities for assessment of child in conflict with law, at Government Medical Colleges in Nagpur. Unfortunately this mandatory provision of Psychological Counselling and Assessment Centre at Government Medical College and Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, have remained neglected for several years. A former member of Juvenile Justice Board stated that the Juvenile Justice Act requires assessment of child in conflict with law, above 16 years of age, to be assessed through psychological tests.

 

The provision has been made in view of growing involvement of children, in heinous crimes. Nirbahaya gang rape and murder led the government to take serious steps to handle the juvenile delinquents involved in heinous crime. The issue of defining age of the child, was under controversy, as Indian laws have different age to term the person a child. India, by virtue of signatory to the UN Convention on Protection of Rights of the Child, had difficulty in reducing the age of the child from 18 to 16. However, the way of assessing mental and physical age of the child above 16 years of age, through psychological tests, was worked out.

 

The institutions providing education in psychology have facility of carrying out these tests, including IQ (Intelligent Quotient) of tendency of abnormal behaviour. The laboratories, however, are used for academic purpose only. The students carry out experiments in these laboratories, under the guidance of their teachers. The J J Board, however, needs a certificate from professionals, who are registered with The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).

 

Dr Arun Kulkarni, former Head of the Department Psychology, RTM Nagpur University and Dr Dipti Christian, Principal of Hislop College have confirmed that they have laboratories and professors who can carry out such tests. However, these educational institutions are not registered with RCI. The J J Board had to refer the cases to centres at Mumbai or Pune. It is learnt that even private psychological practitioners or counsellors in Nagpur have not procured RCI certificate. They can carry out tests, but cannot issue certificates. The decisions of the J J Board are delayed unnecessarily, because the city lacks the facility. At the same time the J J Act imposes time limit for taking decisions by the Board.