New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, through an order published on Monday, January 3, initiated an inquiry into the effectiveness of legal aid to children who are either alleged to be or have been found to be in conflict with the law, apart from various other issues that they face.To this end, the order notes the creation of an inquiry panel to be chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Madan B. Lokur, having Suneita Ojha, Sneha Singh and Ajay Verma as its members.Specifically, this inquiry panel has been tasked with looking into the legal proceedings and the status of cases of children who are alleged to be in conflict with the law as well as children in conflict with the law who are residing in various observation homes, places of safety and special houses within the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.Also Read: Debate: For Young People in Conflict With the Law, Mere Rehabilitation Is Not EnoughMoreover, the panel will assess the reasons behind and the duration of their stay in these institutions. It has been tasked with identifying the issues these children face in securing bail or release from the institution, securing leaves, the quality and effectiveness of legal services available to these children and their experiences with the police.Sources aware of the matter said that the inquiry panel was formed because several cases where the bail application of children was delayed came to the Commission’s notice. DCPCR also noticed that children were not being released in a timely manner. Justice Lokur was chosen to head the panel because he had authored landmark judgments during his time as a judge in the Supreme Court and high court with respect to juvenile laws, the source said.In one of those judgments, the Sampurna Behrua case in 2018, Justice Lokur wrote explicitly about the importance of legal aid to children. It also advocated for social audits of different service deliveries for children.Additionally, the order calls for the demographic profiling of these children, involving the social, economic and educational status of their families as well as any other matter incidental to the issues detailed above.The order states that the inquiry panel is required to file a joint report of their findings with the Commission within a period of five weeks following which the panel will be dissolved.The order also grants several authorisations to members of the panel regarding visits to the aforementioned institutions, interacting with the children, their families and their legal services advocates as well as the officials and persons in charge of the institutions. The panel has also been authorised to inspect any documents it may deem fit to inspect, with prior intimation to the Commission.Also read: Juvenile Justice Laws Need to Uphold the Twin Objectives of Justice and DeterrenceThe Panel members are required to file a confidentiality undertaking with the Commission to ensure the privacy of the children and the information they access. They will also not be allowed to disseminate any information without the Commission’s written approval and are required to comply with the Child Protection Policies of the respective institutions. A rights activist, speaking to The Wire about the order, said that never in the history of the country has there been an enquiry to examine the quality or effectiveness of legal aid provided to children.“There was a judgment of the Delhi high court which actually said every child should get legal aid. Since then, the Supreme Court and various high courts have clarified the importance of legal aid for children because legal aid which is not effective is useless,” the activist, who requested anonymity, said.“What was typically understood about legal aid so far was that you just assign a lawyer and the job was done. It did not matter if the lawyer was interested or competent or if the lawyer was even communicating with the client. None of it mattered,” he said.The inquiry panel, chaired by Justice (Retd) Madan Lokur, will look into the legal proceedings and the status of cases of children who are alleged to be in conflict with the law as well as those who are residing in various homes.