A minor between the age of 16 and 18 will be tried as an adult if he faces charges of committing heinous crimes like murder, rape and acid attacks. However, the juvenile may get a second trial at the age of 21 and go free if deemed reformed. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Woman and Child Development (WCD) Ministry’s proposal to try juveniles involved in serious crimes at par with adults. The Cabinet also cleared the proposal to introduce foster care and expedite the adoption process for orphans.
In the last Cabinet meeting, the proposed Juvenile Justice Amendment (Care and Protection of Children) Bill was referred to the ministerial group headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for further consideration. The group of Ministers, which included Venkaiah Naidu, Sadanand Gowda, Nitin Gadkari and Ravi Shankar Prasad besides Jaitley and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, met on Tuesday to give the proposal a go-ahead.
The JJ Amendment Bill suggested major changes in the law, primary being trying minors between the ages of 16-18 years as adult for involvement in heinous crimes. The Board, with the help of psychologists will assess if the crime was committed as a ‘child’ or as an ‘adult.’ The other big change is that unlike an adult, whose fate is sealed once and for all, the juvenile may undergo a second trial at the age of 21 and if deemed reformed by the JJ Board he may be set free.
As per the WCD Ministry, this unique instrument of a two-stage assessment/ trial brings about a balance that is sensitive to the rights of the child, protective of his legitimate interests and yet conscious of the need to deter crimes, especially brutal crimes against women. The WCD Ministry officials supplemented the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data to back the move to reduce the age for trying a juvenile for serious offences. Data shows that crimes like rapes and murders particularly committed in the age group of 16-18 years had gone up significantly in recent times. From 531 murders in 2002, the figure had gone up to 1,007 in 2013 while for rape and assault the crime recorded was up from 485 to 1,884 during the same period.
Besides this crucial change, the Bill also seeks to bring in new guidelines for foster care-where a family may provide shelter and comforts of a home to the orphan- where the Centre pays a fixed remuneration to the foster parents towards the basic needs of the child, unlike a typical adoption where the adoptee family takes complete care of the child.
The practice of foster care is prevalent in developed nations like the United States and Canada. The draft also seeks to introduce changes to the adoption process to make it simpler and faster. Data with the Government reveals that adoptions have been showing a marked decline since the past few years. Domestic adoptions in India have nearly halved from 5,693 in 2010 to 2,503 in 2014 and similarly international adoptions have come down from 628 in 2010-11 to 300 in 2014-15.