JUSTICE AND PEACE

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT (CORRECTIONAL ADMINISTRATION WING AND NON-CORRECTIONAL WING).

Legislation.

IN MAHARASHTRA STATE THERE ARE FIVE PIECES OF SOCIAL LEGISLATION the aim of three of which is to protect children and to prevent juveniles, adolescents and young adults from becoming habitual criminals. They are (1) the Bombay Children Act, 1948, (2) the Bombay Borstal Schools Act, 1929, and (3) the Bombay Probation of Offenders Act, 1938. The remaining two are the Bombay Beggars Act, 1945, for prevention of begging and the Bombay Habitual Offenders' Restriction Act, 1947, dealing with prevention of crime and treatment of offenders. While the Children Act deals with children below 16 years of age, the Borstal Schools Act is applied to adolescents between 16 and 21, and the Probation of Offenders Act provides for offenders of any age, especially those between 21 and 25 and those who have not committed offences punishable with death or transportation for life.

There are also the following two Children Acts prevalent in the respective Divisions:-

Children Act.

The Bombay Children Act consolidates all previous laws relating to the custody, protection, treatment and rehabilitation of children and youthful offenders and also relating to the trial of youthful offenders. It gives protection to four principal classes of children, viz., (1) those who are neglected, destitute or living in immoral surroundings, and those in moral danger; (2) uncontrollable children who have been reported as such by their parents; (3) children, especially girls who have been used for begging and other purposes by mercenary persons; and (4) young delinquents who either in the company or at the instigation of older persons or by themselves have committed offences under the various laws of the land. Such children are taken charge of either by the police or by officers known as " Probation Officers" and in most cases are kept in " Remand Homes". A Remand Home is primarily meant as a place where a child can be safely accommodated during the period its case is being considered and it is also meant to be a centre where a child's character and behaviour can be minutely observed and its needs fully provided for by wise and careful consideration. After enquiries regarding their home conditions and antecedents have been completed, they are placed before special Courts known as "Juvenile Courts " and dealt with according to the provisions of the Children Act. If the home conditions are found to be satisfactory, and if what is needed is only friendly guidance and supervision, then the children are restored to their parents and placed under the supervision of a trained Probation Officer. If the home conditions are unwholesome and uncongenial, the children are committed to institutions known as " Certified Schools " or " fit person institutions ". Fit person-includes any association established for the reception or protection of children. At these schools or institutions the children receive training according to their individual aptitudes, in carpentry, smithy, book-binding, tailoring, agriculture, poultry-farming, goat-rearing, gardening, cane-work, knitting, etc. Youthful offenders, when implicated in any offence along with adult offenders, have to be tried separately in Juvenile Courts without the paraphernalia of Criminal Courts. The technique employed in Juvenile Courts is entirely different from that in adult Courts. Juvenile Courts are held in Remand Homes. Penal terms are avoided, and even the word "punishment" has been dropped from the enactment in describing the treatment to be meted out. The children are regarded only as victims of circumstances or of the wrong treatment received from adults.

Borstal Schools Act.

Adolescent criminals coming under the Borstal Schools Act are sent for detention and training in the Borstal School, Dharwar. Factory work and agriculture form two main heads of vocational training. Weaving, manufacture of furniture and stationery, and smithy are some of the other vocations taught. The adolescents sent to this school are given such individual training and other instruction and are subjected to such disciplinary and moral influences as will conduce to their reformation. However, boys found to be too incorrigible or unsociable to be kept in the Borstal School are transferred to the Juvenile Section of the Yeravda Prison. Similarly, if the Inspector-General of Prisons thinks that any prisoner in the Juvenile Section can be better treated to his advantage if he is sent to the Borstal School, he is transferred accordingly. Both juveniles and adolescents, when they have finished a certain period of residence in the institutions to which they are sent and have acquired some proficiency in a trade, are released, under a license as prescribed under the Rules, to live in their homes, or, if they are destitutes, in "aftercare hostels" (institutions run by non-official agencies), under supervision, and efforts are made to find employment for them. There is no Borstal School in the Maharashtra State; hence the Borstal School, Dharwar, is made use of.

Machinery to enforce Legislation.

Non-official.

For the proper enforcement of the legislative enactments mentioned above, machinery, both official and non-official, is provided. The non-official machinery is provided by the Maharashtra State Probation and After-Care Association, Poona, with a net-work of affiliated bodies called the District Probation and After-Care Associations. These Associations provide " Remand Homes" and " After Care Hostels" and also direct Probation Officers to make enquiries regarding the home conditions and antecedents of children and also to supervise the young persons released either directly by courts or on licence from Certified Schools and the Borstal School, Dharwar.

Official.

The official agency is the Directorate of Social Welfare (Correctional and non-Correctional Administration Wings), Poona. The work under the Juvenile Branch was transferred from Education Department to the Education and Social Welfare Department from the 1st December, 1956. Later on, from the 1st November, 1957, the work under the former Juvenile and Beggars department and the work under the Backward Class Welfare department have been combined and a new Directorate of Social Welfare has been established. The Directorate works under the Education and Social Welfare department. There are now three Wings of the Directorate of Social Welfare under the Director of Social Welfare and they are as follows:-

(1) Backward Class Wing.-for all Backward Class welfare activities.

(2) Correctional Administration Wing.-Children Act work (Juvenile Branch and State Association Branch), Beggars Act work, Habitual Offenders Restriction work, Bombay Probation of Offenders Act work.

(3) Non-Correctional Administration Wing.-(1) Moral and social hygiene programme and other plan schemes including report and research.

(2) Branch for the Physically Handicapped.

The Backward Class Wing is headed by the Joint Director of Social Welfare. The Correctional Wing is headed by the Deputy Director of Social Welfare (Correctional Administration), who is also ex-officio Chief Inspector of Certified Schools, Chief Inspector of Certified Institutions and Reclamation Officer for the respective legislations, viz. (1) Bombay Children Act, (2) Bombay Beggars Act, and (3) Habitual Offenders Restriction Act. Excepting the administration of Borstal Schools and institutions which are controlled by the Home Department at the Secretariat level, all work of the Correctional Administration Wing and Non-Correctional Administration Wing is controlled by the Education and Social Welfare department through the Director of Social Welfare.

Bombay Children Act, 1948.-Part VII of the Act relating to youthful offenders has been made applicable to the Ratnagiri district. The Judicial Magistrates, First Class, can try the cases of young offenders coming under the purview of the Act. As regards Parts V and VI of the Act relating to destitute, neglected, uncontrollable, illegitimate and victimised children they have not yet been made applicable to the district due to non-availability of the requisite machinery such as remand homes, juvenile courts and certified schools, During the year 1957-58, cases relating to 142 boys and 32 girls were tried by the First Class Judicial Magistrates.

The Bombay Borstal Schools Act.-Only supervision work of the lads released from the Borstal School, Dharwar is entrusted to the Maharashtra State Probation and After-Care Association to which the grants are paid by Government through the Director of Social Welfare. As regards the implementation of the Act, running of Borstal Schools, etc. the Inspector-General of Prisons, Maharashtra State, Poona, is the responsible authority. Two licensees released on licence from the Borstal School, Dharwar, were supervised during the year 1957-58 in the district.

The Bombay Probation of Offenders Act, 1938.-The provisions of the Act have not yet (1959) been made applicable to the Ratnagiri district.

The Bombay Beggars Act, 1945.-The provisions of this Act also have not yet (1959) been applied to Ratnagiri district.

The Bombay Habitual Offenders Registration Act, 1947.-The benefits of this Act are available to the district whenever necessary. A habitual offender of this district can be interned in a settlement or his movements restricted as the case may be. The department deals with internment cases.

Institutions Under Moral and Social Hygiene Programme.-There is one Reception Centre in Sawantwadi, established by Government. It is concerned with preventive and rescue work among women and adolescent girls and deals with cases of victimisation and exploitation of women and girls released from institutions including rescue homes and correctional institutions. This Reception Centre has been declared as "Protective Home" under the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956. The maximum accommodation of the Centre is 25. The Reception Centre was established in January, 1959 and since then 22 females have been admitted till 30th June 1959. On 1st July 1959 there were 11 inmates in the Centre.

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