The Kathmandu Post, published date June 4, 2019, written by Amrita Anmol (Rupandehi correspondent for kantipur publications). The review presents recent cases that happened in the respective time and places which is entitled with ‘Juvenile Cases Rise in Rupandehi’; there was a rise of delinquency among the juveniles and increasing very sharply till now. The article represents it with several case of which only one case is chosen for the further description and situation of juvenile delinquency in Nepal. It is mentioned that 16 recorded cases in the past year 85 this year so far were reported in police station of which one of the boy was 13 year old who got arrested under allegations of raping an 8 year old girl. The boy case was being investigated by police officer over a week and the office of District Attorney drafted a report based on their findings. The boy was called to juvenile bench at the rupandehi district court for a hearing. During the procedure the boy did not give answer to the chief judge questions. Then chief judge took help of the alleged boy’s mother. After she intervened, he began to talk. During the interrogation it was found that the boy has “absent parents”; his mother is a migrant worker who had come to Nepal after being informed about his son mischievous behavior and father is a chronic drinker and at a young age, moving around in bad company. Since, then 9 boys have been accused of rape in the district in the past years, five have been returned to their homes after counselling, while 4 have been sent to juvenile reform center after being found guilty.
People under the age of 16 were legally considered children. But the civil and criminal code, which came into effect since august 17, 2018, defined people under 18 as juvenile. The causative factor of the delinquency in this area is given by the law practitioner and other authoritative members as well which are mentioned below;
- Chief judge, also the coordinator of the children enquiry committee, said that the main reasons behind children getting involved in crime are;
- Poor parenting
- Family culture
- Peer Pressure
He also said that most of the children charged under crimes come from impoverished and/or dalit communities
- According Shiva Gaudel, the advocate and chairperson of Nepal child welfare organization mentioned that children from impoverished background find their way into a life of crime because the illiteracy rate among their parents is high, importance of childcare, their education and their rights are not prioritized. Children becomes engaged in criminal activities because they lack guidance and are easily influenced by seniors and crumble under peer pressure.
iii. Justice of the Supreme Court and Chair of Juvenile Justice Coordinator Committee Dr. Ananda Mohan Bhattarai said that “most children commit crimes imitating seniors”. In some cases children are swindled by older people.
- Loknath Gyawali, chairperson of parents association, rupandehi said that most of the juveniles who have engaged in crimes and delinquencies suffer from poor parenting and the wide spread method of education by rote in schools. Schools need to start incorporating moral education in their curricula’s and engage children in extracurricular activities.
Reference
https://kathmandupost.com/province-no-5/2019/06/04/juvenile-cases-on-the-rise-in-rupandehi