The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 is the primary legal framework for

juvenile Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood *Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...

justice in India. The act provides for a special approach towards the prevention and treatment of

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

and provides a framework for the protection, treatment and

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

of children in the purview of the juvenile justice system. This law, brought in compliance of the 1989 UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...

(UNCRC), repealed the earlier Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 after India signed and ratified the UNCRC in 1992. In the wake of Delhi gang rape (16 Dec 2012), the law suffered a nationwide criticism owing to its helplessness against crimes where juveniles get involved in heinous crimes like rape and murder. In 2015, responding to the public sentiment, both the houses of parliament in India further amended

the bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

that lowered the juvenile age to 16 and proposed adult-like treatment for juveniles accused of heinous crimes. The lower house, i.e. Lok Sabha passed the bill on 7 May 2015 and the upper house, i.e. Rajya Sabha on 22 December 2015. The bill was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee's assent on 31 December 2015. The Act is considered to be extremely progressive legislation and the Model Rules 2007 have further added to the effectiveness of this welfare legislation. However, the implementation is a very serious concern even in 2013 and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

is constantly looking into the implementation of this law in ''Sampurna Behrua Versus Union of India'' and ''

Bachpan Bachao Andolan Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA; ''Save Childhood Movement'') is an India-based children's rights movement. It was started in 1980 by Nobel Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. It campaigns against bonded labour, child labour and human trafficking, and p ...

Versus Union of India''. In addition to the Supreme Court, the

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

s are also monitoring implementation of the Act in judicial proceedings. In order to upgrade the Juvenile Justice Administration System, the Government of India launched the

Integrated Child Protection Scheme The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) is a governmental program implemented by the Government Of India to help secure the safety of children, with a special emphasis on children in need of care and protection, juveniles in conflict or conta ...

(ICPS) in 2009-10 whereby financial allocations have been increased and various existing schemes have been merged under one scheme. A separate petition titled ''Deepika Thusso Versus State of Jammu and Kashmir'' is also pending consideration before the Supreme Court on implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1997 which is applicable in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on a resolution passed in 2006 and reiterated in 2009 in the Conference of Chief Justices of India, several High Courts have constituted "Juvenile Justice Committees" headed by sitting judges of High Courts. These committees supervise and monitor implementation of the Act in their jurisdiction.

History of juvenile justice legislation in India

The original Juvenile Justice Bill only held children from 7-12 legally responsible for their crimes if the crimes were heinous, and children from 12-14 legally responsible for their crimes for other crimes. These juveniles were punished with a maximum of three years in rehabilitation centre, no matter the magnitude of the crime. The most important impact of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 was that it shifted the age criterion for the legal definition of a child from 14 years and below to 18 years and below. There were many other valuable revisions surrounding child marriage and immoral trafficking, as well. After the passing of the 2000 Act, a revamped Juvenile Justice Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 7 May 2015 in the aftermath of the Delhi Rape Case of December, 2012 in which a minor was found guilty. The new bill will raise the maximum sentence to seven years for serious crimes, and allow minors in the age group of 16-18 to be tried as adults if they commit heinous crimes. The heinous crime will be examined by the Juvenile Justice Board to ascertain if the crime was committed as a 'child' or an 'adult'.

Rehabilitation

For the rehabilitation and mainstreaming of the juvenile as mandated by the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, management committees are set up before the release of juvenile convicts. Accordingly a 'post release plan' for the same is submitted to the court.

Debates and Controversy

The discussion required to pass this bill sparked heavy controversy. The decision to make the new age of juveniles as less than 18 was declared a selfish decision by many. The United Nations had stated the international "juvenile" age cutoff to be 18, and many citizens of India felt that following that rule was a reflection of its poor priorities (prioritizing the UN over the needs of its own citizens). A lot of crime in India is committed by those less than the age of 18, and this could potentially let all of them free. Due to this debate, many of the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha actually were hesitant to choose 18 as the age boundary, but were complying to UN guidelines. This decision was very important in the debates surrounding the 2015 revision of the act, which then discussed the potential exceptions to this rule given the intensity of a crime. The Ministry of Women and Child Development started contemplating bringing several desired amendments in 2011 and a process of consultation with various stake holders was initiated. A draft Bill in this regard was prepared and was pending before the Ministry of Law and Justice for scrutiny and put up on the official website of Ministry of Women & Child Development in June 2014 for public inputs. The Delhi gang rape case in December 2012 had tremendous impact on public perception of the Act. One of the convicts was found to be juvenile and sentenced to 3 years in a reform home. Eight writ petitions alleging the Act and its several provisions to be unconstitutional were heard by the Supreme Court of India in the second week of July 2013 and were dismissed, holding the Act to be constitutional. Demands for a reduction of the age of juveniles from 18 to 16 years were also turned down by the Supreme Court, when the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

stated that there is no proposal to reduce the age of a juvenile. In July 2014, Indian Express reported that Pakistan-based terrorist organization

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

had asked its members to declare their age to be below 18 years. This would ensure that they are tried under the Juvenile Justice Act instead of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...

(IPC). The maximum punishment under the Act was three years.

Notable cases

2012 Delhi gang rape The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-year ...

where the juvenile accused was tried under this law. The case also led to amendments leading to the JJA 2015.

References

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lok-sabha-passes-uvenile-justice-care-and-protection-of-children-bill/article7180849.ece

External links