New Delhi, April 21 -- Coming down heavily on the unlawful incarceration of a juvenile alongside adult inmates, the Supreme Court has ensured that the Uttar Pradesh government pay a Rs.5 lakh compensation to a man who, despite being a juvenile at the time of the offence, was lodged in a regular jail with adult prisoners. In a strong rebuke to custodial lapses, the top court underscored that such incarceration strikes at the heart of child protection laws and constitutional guarantees, while also taking on record a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent recurrence of such violations across the state. A bench of justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar emphasised that housing a juvenile with adult inmates is impermissible under law. "P...