Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant has called for a fundamental recalibration in the manner in which the justice system and society respond to children affected by substance abuse, stressing that no child should be reduced to a diagnosis, a case number or a past mistake.
Addressing the national seminar on “Restoring Childhood – Preventing Drug Abuse and Re-integration of Children in Need of Care and Protection” at Bihar Lok Bhawan in Patna on Saturday, the CJI said the gathering represented a collective resolve to reclaim the innocence of children and protect them from the enduring consequences of addiction.
Referring to an August 2026 study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, Justice Surya Kant noted the significant prevalence of vulnerability to substance use among adolescents in India. He cautioned, however, against allowing statistics to obscure the individual realities behind them.
“Behind every number is a child whose circumstances differ from another’s,” the CJI observed, emphasising that the varied pathways through which children are exposed to substance abuse demand responses attuned to their individual vulnerabilities.
Justice Surya Kant strongly cautioned against allowing substance use to become a defining label attached to a child’s identity. The fact that a child has used a substance, he said, may reveal one dimension of the child’s circumstances, but cannot capture the experiences, vulnerabilities or conditions that preceded it, nor indicate the support required to facilitate recovery.
The CJI also drew a clear distinction between children affected by substance abuse and those who exploit their vulnerability. While the law must respond firmly to persons who prey upon children and facilitate the circulation of drugs, he said, the questions confronting the justice system are fundamentally different when the person before it is a child struggling with substance use.
The objective, he emphasised, must be to ensure that a period of vulnerability does not become the defining narrative of an entire life.
Explaining the philosophy underlying the seminar’s theme, Justice Surya Kant said restoration should not be understood as an attempt to erase the harm a child has suffered or to turn back the clock. Rather, it must mean creating the conditions in which a child can once again experience the essential elements of childhood education, relationships, play, trust and the confidence that the future holds possibilities beyond the present difficulty.
The CJI further cautioned against treating de-addiction as merely a clinical exercise. While medical intervention may address the immediate consequences of substance use, meaningful restoration requires the system to confront a more fundamental question: what awaits the child after treatment ends?
In this context, he underscored the importance of education, secure family environments and supportive social structures in ensuring that rehabilitation translates into genuine reintegration. The responsibility, he indicated, extends beyond treatment centres and courtrooms to every institution that shapes the child’s environment.
Justice Surya Kant also emphasised the significance of Legal Services Institutions in this process, observing that access to justice begins well before a dispute finds its way into a courtroom. Legal assistance, protection and institutional support must therefore form part of a broader framework designed to safeguard children in vulnerable circumstances.
Concluding his address, the CJI reminded the gathering that children are not merely citizens of tomorrow but citizens of today. He called for the creation of a system in which no child is permanently defined by addiction, vulnerability or a past mistake, and where every child whose childhood has been threatened retains a meaningful pathway towards safety, dignity, belonging and hope.
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