This briefing will try to shine a light on the illegal detention of minors in Kashmir since the security clampdown on the 5th of August 2019. It seeks to explore the role of the justice system in enabling the continued violation of the rights of the children to protection from exploitation that they are guaranteed by India’s Constitution and her international obligations. We report on a lawsuit brought before the Indian Supreme Court challenging illegal detention of minors in Kashmir, and its casual dismissal there, before examining some of the evidence to the contrary, based on media reports and limited field investigation.

...Observers have noted that no examination of the failings of the juvenile justice system in Kashmir can be complete without factoring in the region's unique political context of securitisation and militarisation. The arbitrariness of the security forces, the massive and all-pervasive surveillance state, and the state’s concerted efforts to discipline Kashmiri youth using the instruments of torture, abuse and illegal detention, have all contributed to the entrenchment of a culture of oppression in the region.  The first step in dismantling this culture would be to acknowledge the existence of a problem and to commence efforts to ensure the complete disengagement of security forces from dealing with children. Instead, the state administration and the security forces have peddled lies at every level about their steadfast and systematic attempts to browbeat an entire generation into submission, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of criminalisation and alienation.

With Jammu & Kashmir now formally downgraded to Union Territory (UT) status, essentially coming under the direct control of the central government in New Delhi, the last vestiges of hope are being stripped even from those who once clung to the possibility of reconciliation with the Indian state. The talk in New Delhi, meanwhile, has shifted to giving the security forces in Kashmir a “free hand."  Kashmir's children are bound to continue to be caught in the crossfire.

The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, has in the past stressed the importance of prioritising rehabilitation and compassion when it comes to dealing with children.  "It is the atmosphere of the jail which has a highly injurious effect on the mind of the child, estranging him from the society and breeding in him aversion bordering on hatred against a system which keeps in jail,” the Court had noted once. Today, however, the Court cannot spare more than “an hour” to entertain an attempt to introduce at least a semblance of transparency and accountability. As the supposed parens patriae of the children of Kashmir, the state is expected to act as the parent of all children in need of protection. Instead, justice institutions has opted to follow policies in Kashmir that inflict deep and long-lasting physical and psychological damage upon Kashmir’s innocent children. History is unlikely to judge this kindly.