Alarming rise in juvenile crime including heinous offences, says Government

There has been a rapid increase in juveniles apprehended for offences including heinous offences over the last three years, the government said. Between 2012- 2014, there have been 1,31,558 juveniles apprehended for various offences including heinous offences.  Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha said, “According to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, the number of juveniles apprehended for various offences including heinous offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL) during the year 2012, 2013 and 2014 stood at 39,822, 43,506 and 48,230 respectively. 

Out of these 9,677, 9,549 and 8,700 were sent to Observation Homes and Special Homes during 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.” 

The Government of India has recently enacted the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which came into effect from January 15, 2016 repealing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. This Act is to be implemented by State Government/ UT Administrations. Under Section 41 of the new Act, registration of institutions including Homes for children in conflict with law has been made mandatory with penalty in case of non-compliance.

“Section 53 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, provides for several rehabilitation and re-integration services in institutions such as education, vocational training, mental health interventions, counseling, etc. Under Section 8 of the Act, the Juvenile Justice Board is required to conduct at least one inspection visit every month of residential facilities for children in conflict with law and recommend action for improvement in quality of services to the District Child Protection Unit and the State Government. 

Under Section 54, the State Governments are required to appoint inspection Committees for the State and district for mandatory inspection of all facilities housing children, at least once in three months,” added the minister. 

Further, under the Centrally Sponsored Integrated Child Protection Scheme, the financial norms were revised with effect from April 1, 2014. Gandhi said,“Some of the key features of the revised Scheme are increased maintenance grant for children in homes, from existing Rs 750 to Rs 2000 per child per month; enhanced cost of construction from existing provision of Rs 600 per sq feet to Rs 1000 per sq feet and flexibility in the staffing pattern in service delivery structures.”