Ronit Ranjan (name changed) was barely 16 when he was booked for a case related to a bike theft. After spending six months in a remand home for the crime he was sent back home. But, the case remained pending. He continued visiting the court for six long years until his case was finally disposed of on Friday by country’s first Special Bal lok Adalat organised by District legal Services Authority (DlSA) at Juvenile Justice Board office in Ranchi.
“It is really a relief for me and my family that I will not have to go to the court for hearing. I can now concentrate on my studies,” said Ranjan, who has turned 22 now.
As many as 295 such cases were disposed of in country’s first Special Bal lok Adalat organized in all districts of the State. On the directions of Jharkhand legal Services Authority (JHAlSA), District legal Services Authorities in the State on Friday organised Bal lok Adalat.
Out of a total of 465 cases taken up by Juvenile Justice Board across the State on Friday, 295 were disposed of. Similarly, out of 785 matters of Child Working Committee, 569 were settled in all the 24 districts of Jharkhand.
A case against a 12 year girl, booked four years back in 2012 under section 353 of Indian Penal Code for disrupting government officials in carrying out their duties, was disposed of by JJ Board in Ranchi. The 12 year girl was a student of class IX in a reputed missionary school and was facing problems in coordinating with the school and court.
“It is really a great relief for me as I had to face a lot of problems in coordination between the school and the court. Though the case was concocted, it was torturous for me to go to the court regularly for appearance. Today also, I came here right from the school to get my case disposed of,” she said.
According to an official communiqué, maximum number of cases was taken up in the State capital. “Out of 90 cases taken up by JJB in Ranchi, 65 of them got disposed of while CWC succeeded in settling 110 out of 195 cases,” stated a release by DlSA.
Mainly, two types of cases were taken up during the Child lok Adalat–firstly, Child in conflict with the law and secondly, Child in need of care of protection. Petty crimes like mobile theft and other similar crimes come under the first category while children recovered from railway stations and other public places come under the second category.
Earlier, Chief Justice Virender Singh speaking as Chief Guest during the occasion, praised the work done by Justice DN Patel as Executive Chairman of JHAlSA and said that the zeal of doing something found in Justice Patel could not be found in others.
Expressing satisfaction over what he did during his tenure as Chief Justice in Jharkhand Justice Singh said that he will be proud of what he achieved here in Jharkhand.
“I would also like to thank Chief Minister Raghubar Das for extending all his support in making my dreams of a new High Court campus true,” the Chief Justice said.
Before that, Justice DN Patel inaugurated Bal lok Adalat online in other districts from Nyaya Sadan and said that this was first ever such a lok Adalat in the Country. “It is a new initiative taken by us let’s see how successful we will be proved to be by the end of this evening,” he said.