India toughens law for juvenile crimes
The Rajya Sabha passed or returned nine Bills, including the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, the Appropriation Bills, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill.
The amended bill will allow convicts of more than 16 years of age to be tried as adult convicts.
She said the incidents of heinous crimes by juveniles of the age of 16 years and above were on the rise and cited statistics to support her contention.
The passage of amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act lowering the age limit from 18 to 16 for being prosecuted as an adult in cases involving heinous crimes was the only silver lining in the session.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 12 August, 2014 by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi.
The juvenile bill, passed through voice note has been sent to the President and awaits consent.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury called it an emotional move. Members from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and DMK also questioned the hurry in passing the bill, suggesting that it may be sent to a select committee. What if an accused is 15 years and 11 months? The bill primarily emerged after the horrendous Nirbhaya rape case of three years ago, where one of the rapists was a minor at that time and walked out of jail on Sunday after he reached the age of 18.
The House passed 13 bills, including the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Bill and the National Waterways Bill.
Yet another anomaly of the Bill is that the penalties prescribed under the Bill are not in proportion to the seriousness of the crime committed. The previous JJ Act and the present JJ Bill commits the state to provide education, skill development, counselling, behaviour modification therapy and psychiatric support for inmates. “Though it has been delayed, we want this bill to be passed in parliament at the earliest”, Asha Devi told reporters.
After the bill was passed yesterday, rape victim’s mother said, “I am satisfied, but sad that my daughter couldn’t get justice”.
Offences committed by juveniles are categorised as heinous offences which includes those with minimum punishment of seven years of imprisonment under IPC or any other law; serious offences which would lead to three to seven years of imprisonment and petty offences which would be for below three years of imprisonment. The Juvenile Justice Board will be tasked with conducting preliminary inquiry into the nature of the offence and other circumstances.
She assured the members that the “gender neutral” law has been drafted in a manner so that “even if one criminal is let off”, not a single innocent child is tried under the adult system. Our efforts at least produced some results.