18/11/2022

Relevance: GS-1: Population and Associated issues, Social Empowerment

Relevance: GS-2: Functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Phrases: Juvenile, Bakarwal community, Juvenile Justice Act of 2015, Biannual Migration, Juvenile delinquency, Central Adoption Resource Authority, Serious and Non-cognizable offenses.

Context:

• Recently, the Supreme Court said in a judgment that a lenient juvenile law has increasingly emboldened juveniles to commit heinous crimes and it is for the government to re-examine the law before it is too late in the day.

Background

• The court ordered a juvenile accused of the brutal gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua to be tried as an adult.
• The case involves an 8-year-old girl from Kathua, J&K who was abducted, drugged, raped and killed.
• The apex court had taken note of the hindrances to a fair trial in the jurisdictional court. The case was thus transferred from J&K to Punjab by the Supreme Court for a fair trial.
• The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had appealed against the State High Court’s affirmation of a trial court order that the accused was a juvenile.
• There were contradictions in the accused’s birth records. The medical board report had however concluded that the accused was aged between 19 and 23 at the commission of the crime.
• The child belonged to the nomadic Bakarwal community. Her brutalized body was found by locals a kilometer away from the village.
• The Court expressed doubts whether the merciful ways of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 with the singular objective to reform juvenile delinquents have only in turn become a protective cover for them to commit heinous crimes with certain impunity.

Juvenile Justice Act of 2015

• The Act changes the nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’. It removes the negative connotation associated with the word “juvenile”.
• It also includes several new and clear definitions such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children; and petty, serious and heinous offenses committed by children.
• The aim of the act is to comprehensively address children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.\
• It mandates setting up Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees in every district. Both must have at least one woman member each.
• The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) was granted the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively.
• The Act included several new offenses committed against children which are not adequately covered under any other law such as:
  • Illegal adoptions,
  • Use of children by militant groups,
  • Offenses against disabled children.
• All Child Care Institutions, whether run by State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organizations are to be mandatorily registered under the Act within 6 months from the date of commencement of the Act.

Offenses Under the Act

• Serious offenses will also include those for which maximum punishment is imprisonment of more than seven years, and minimum punishment is not prescribed or is of less than seven years.
• The Juvenile Justice Board inquiries about a child who is accused of a serious offense.
• Non-cognizable Offenses: an offense which is punishable with imprisonment between three to seven years to be cognizable i.e. arrest is allowed without warrant and non-bailable.

Central Adoption Resource Authority

• CARA CARA) is the nodal authority in India for the adoption of Indian children.
• It is a statutory body under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 functioning under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, GOI.
• It is authorized to regulate and monitor inter-country and in-country adoptions.
• CARA is the designated authority in India for inter-country adoptions according to the provisions of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, 1993. India ratified the convention in 2003.

Goal of Reformation

• There is a school of thought existing in our country that firmly believes that howsoever heinous the crime may be, be it single rape, gang rape, drug peddling or murder but if the accused is a juvenile, he should be dealt with keeping in mind only one thing i.e., the goal of reformation.
• The court said the rate of juvenile delinquency is rising in India. It was a matter of concern and required immediate attention.

Way Forward

• The manner in which brutal and heinous crimes have been committed over a period of time by the juveniles, we have started gathering an impression that the leniency in the name of the goal of reformation is making them more and more emboldened in indulging in such heinous crimes.
• Thus, we as a society need to come up with new sets of regulations to arrest this trend. The legislature, executive and Judiciary must be in sync and work coherently for a common purpose of reducing the crimes associated with juveniles.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question

Q. A lenient juvenile law has increasingly emboldened juveniles to commit heinous crimes. Examine the statement in the context of the Juvenile Justice Act of India. (150 Words)