India passes bill increasing penalties for juveniles

Today in India, juveniles between the ages of 16-18 years are now to be tried as adults for heinous crimes like murder or rape, following the bill passed by the Indian Parliament.

The freed teen is one of six men who repeatedly raped an Indian medical student on a moving Delhi bus in 2012, the victim’s internal organs were damaged beyond fix, and she died of her injuries 13 days after the incident.

However, they will not face the death penalty.

Minister for Women and Child’s Right, Maneka Gandhi, who proposed the amended law, said a “more nuanced and compassionate” law was not possible.

On Tuesday, the Juvenile Justice Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha – the upper house of the parliament.

The bill, which was passed by the lower house in May, had been listed for passage in the upper house during the ongoing winter session but proceedings have been hampered by perennial spats between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition members.

“Juvenile crime is the fastest rising segment in the country and the bill will help to stop (this)”, she said.

“We are opposed to the law since vengeance seems to have become the focal point of our view of justice”.

Current law defines a person under 18 as a juvenile and caps punishment at three years in a correctional home. It allows prosecution of those 16-18 as adults.

The parents of the casualty were among those campaigning to improve the law.

The man, now an adult, was released on Sunday.

“Lawmakers have committed a blunder by changing the law”, said Shahbaz Khan, program coordinator at Haq, a center for child rights in New Delhi.