Seeking a confession about an alleged crime committed by a juvenile is “unconstitutional” as a "presumption is raised at the pre-trial stage itself that the child has committed the offence,” the Delhi High Court has said.
Further, it said securing the confession of the juvenile in conflict with the law is beyond the scope of a report of the preliminary assessment to be prepared under the Juvenile Justice Act.
A Bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal, which perused a preliminary assessment report prepared by a psychologist on the subject, said that under clause 3 of the report it can be clearly noted that a confession is sought to be extracted from a child as to how the offence was committed and the reasons thereof.
