New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to clarify whether juvenile delinquents are being kept with adult prisoners in Agra Central Jail, stressing that no law permits housing minors anywhere other than designated observation homes. A bench of justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, in an order last week, sought the state's response after it came across a custody certificate for a juvenile issued by the superintendent of Agra Central Jail. "How is this custody certificate from the Agra jail superintendent and not from a social welfare officer?" the bench asked advocate SC Birla, who appeared for the juvenile seeking bail on the ground that the delinquent had already spent over three years in custody -- the maximum period permitted under the Juvenile Justice Act. Birla told the court that a juvenile home functions within the Agra jail premises. Visibly concerned, the bench remarked: "How can that be? The law requires them to be lodged in observation homes. They cannot be kept with adults."...