India passes bill increasing penalties for juveniles in ‘heinous crimes’

Under the new law juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years who commit heinous crimes like murder, rape and robbery stand to face a regular court like adults.

The Rajya Sabha virtually made a last minute dash to clear the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill by sitting late on Tuesday evening.

“I am satisfied that the bill has been passed in the upper house but somewhere deep down I feel sad that my own daughter never got justice”, said Asha Singh, the victim’s mother, as her eyes welled up.

Pushing for passage of the bill, she said heinous crimes like rape by youth aged 16 and above was the “fastest rising segment”.

The amended bill will allow convicts of more than 16 years of age to be tried as adult convicts.

In India, a person younger than 18 is considered a juvenile and is exempt from harsh punishments for serious crimes and is instead sent to reform homes for three years.

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, died after being brutally raped by five men and one minor on a moving bus in 2012.

Apart from these, the house referred The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015, was referred to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.

In defence of the legislation, which may have to pass judicial scrutiny too, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development called it “nuanced” to the extent that the juvenile board is not entirely bypassed and some procedural safeguards are built in to protect the interests of juveniles in conflict with law.

Critics, however, argue that harsher laws in the wake of the fatal gang rape have failed to deter crimes against women, which they say are largely due to deeply patriarchal attitudes. The victim’s mother criticised the verdict and said that by not punishing the juvenile the court was encouraging other teenagers to commit similar crimes.

In the end, however, the bill was passed swiftly with most members present voting in favour of the changes. Lok Sabha had passed the bill earlier.

She expressed concern on lowering the age of the juvenile in India from 18 to 16, saying that lowering the age is completely wrong.

The Bills passed today were the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, the Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill, the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill.

“We have been demanding that the juvenile should be tried on the basis of the crime they have committed”.

When somebody pointed out that involvement of juveniles in such crimes is less than one per cent, she retorted that in a country like India with a population of 1.3 billion, one per cent means millions. The UNCRC states that signatory countries should treat every child under the age of 18 years in the same manner and not try them as adults.