Juvenile law too soft on brutal offenders, SC asks
8 April 2015 5:26 AM IST
Despite the fact the Justice JS Verma Committee report on ‘Amendments to Criminal Law’ had noted that though “the Juvenile Justice Act has failed miserably to protect children in the country. We cannot hold a child responsible for a crime, before providing to him/ her the basic rights given to him/ her by the Indian Constitution.’’
Demands for minors involved in brutal crimes to be tried and punished as adults peaked after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. One of the six convicted in the gang-rape, torture and killing of a para-medical student was a man, who was a few months short of turning 18 years at the time of the incident. A Delhi court has sentenced him to three years in a correctional facility, which sparked angry protests.
Stating that it was “extremely difficult” to accept that a juvenile delinquent would not be aware of the consequences, while committing crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity, the court said spurt in the involvement of minors in such heinous crimes called upon an imperative need to mull changes in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said, “The time has come to think of an effective law to deal with the situation. We would request the learned Attorney General to bring it to the notice of the authorities concerned so that the relevant provisions in the Act can be re-looked, re-scrutinised and re-visited, at least in the respect of offences, which are heinous in nature.”
The court was hearing a case, wherein an accused in a murder case claimed that he was juvenile at the time of the incident and hence, should be accorded immunity under the Act. A juvenile cannot be sent to jail under the existing law and the maximum punishment for a delinquent can be three years’ detention in a correctional facility.
The court on Monday responded to an appeal filed by a murder convict from Haryana who wants his life sentence overturned, saying that he was below 18 years at the time of the incident and cannot be tried by a regular court.
Demands for minors involved in brutal crimes to be tried and punished as adults peaked after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. One of the six convicted in the gang-rape, torture and killing of a para-medical student was a man, who was a few months short of turning 18 years at the time of the incident. A Delhi court has sentenced him to three years in a correctional facility, which sparked angry protests.
Stating that it was “extremely difficult” to accept that a juvenile delinquent would not be aware of the consequences, while committing crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity, the court said spurt in the involvement of minors in such heinous crimes called upon an imperative need to mull changes in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said, “The time has come to think of an effective law to deal with the situation. We would request the learned Attorney General to bring it to the notice of the authorities concerned so that the relevant provisions in the Act can be re-looked, re-scrutinised and re-visited, at least in the respect of offences, which are heinous in nature.”
The court was hearing a case, wherein an accused in a murder case claimed that he was juvenile at the time of the incident and hence, should be accorded immunity under the Act. A juvenile cannot be sent to jail under the existing law and the maximum punishment for a delinquent can be three years’ detention in a correctional facility.
The court on Monday responded to an appeal filed by a murder convict from Haryana who wants his life sentence overturned, saying that he was below 18 years at the time of the incident and cannot be tried by a regular court.
Next Story
