Correctional centres need correction

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According to a source, a 25-year-old married man, waiting trial, has been kept at Jessore Kishore Unnyan Kendra (KUK). Similar cases are also common in other KUKs.

Usually it is the police or the court that determines the age. The caseworker and medical officer at the KUK do not have a role here. The centres receive young offenders following order from the court.

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A present, there are some 320 'juveniles' staying in KUKs at Tongi, Jessore and Konabari.

The Tongi KUK has 193 inmates, Jessore has 91 and the girls-only KUK in Konabari houses 35.

"It is not possible to put an exact number on over-aged people staying in KUKs because the age is not properly recorded," said Dr Syed Tariq-uz-Zaman, a researcher who had recently conducted a study on the three KUKs.

The research titled 'A Participatory Assessment of the Situation of Children in Kishore Unnayan Kendra: Bangladesh' was initiated by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and Save the Children UK (SCUK).

Teenagers at the KUKs generally share common accommodation. However, at Jessore they are separated according to the nature and status of offence. There are separate quarters for remanded and awarded cases. At the Konabari KUK, police referred cases are kept apart.

It has been observed that juveniles with past record of drug addiction have been sharing the same accommodation with other children at the KUKs and Dr. Zaman's study strongly opposes this practice.

"In future no drug addicts should be allowed in there and the superintendent should be given the power to reject them," the study suggests.

"This system is not logical. It is necessary to separate awarded cases with non-awarded (remand) cases. Among the non-awarded cases, there possibly are innocents and the victims. Associating them with children in conflict with law might spoil them

"There are some children involved in hardened offence like murder who appear as heroes and regarded as role models by the others," the report observed.

Sources at KUKs say that there are dangerous criminal minds staying, some of whom have been accused of killing their parents, brothers and sisters even.

The correctional centres lack physical and psychological assessment capability to determine the level of educational and social background of the teenagers they receive.

"There are 13 assistant teachers at the three centres but only one of them has studied psychology," said Dr Zaman.

Dr Zaman noted that minor children are more likely to become victims of injustice as their recorded age is often above the actual years. At the same time, those who are over 18 years can escape the punishment designed for adults by under-recording their age.

The study also said that this situation gives a section of corrupt law enforcing officials the opportunity to make money through manipulation of age related records.

The government is aware of the limitations in dealing with juvenile offenders. Minister for Social Welfare Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed said that in the absence of a system in issuing birth certificates, there is always the possibility of criminals covering up their original age to take undue advantage of the law.

Dr Kamal Siddiqui, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister said that the whole process is very complicated as law, home and social welfare ministries work together on juvenile delinquency.

"The PM's Office is now working on ways to ensure coordination of different government bodies in this regard," said Dr Siddiqui.