Juveniles involved in heinous crimes like murder and rape may face trial in court as adults under the India Penal Code if the Centre has its way. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) which has been reworking on the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to give it more teeth is almost ready with a Cabinet note proposing the changes.
After a series of consultations with experts and closely studying practices in developed countries like the USA and the UK, the WCD Ministry in its revised draft has decided that juveniles in the age bracket of 16 to 18 years committing heinous crimes should not have the umbrella protection under the JJ Act, which seeks to reform juvenile criminals — irrespective of their crimes.Heinous crimes like murder and gang-rape, under the JJ Act, attract a maximum punishment of three years in a reformatory home.
“We are witnessing a steadily increasing trend of juvenile offenders arrested for grave crimes seeking pardon on the plea that they have not yet reached 18 years of age. The December 16 Nirbhaya case is a glaring example, followed by the Mumbai gang-rape case where juveniles were involved,” said an official of the WCD Ministry.“We have proposed a graded system of punishment to juveniles involved in rapes and murders. Several developed countries, including the UK, the US and France, allow criminals above the age of 16 to be tried as adults for heinous crimes,” said the official.
Although, the WCD Ministry fears a backlash from the activists who are against treating juveniles at par with adult criminals, it says there is no option. “looking at the current trend of increasing number of juveniles involved in serious crimes, we think this move will be a stronger deterrent. We are very positive that this move will help change crime statistics, particularly those committed by juveniles,” said an official.
In the UK, a person under 17 (the cut-off for juveniles) can be tried as adult in serious offences like sexual assault, child sex offences and sexual activity with a child family member. France has a separate Juvenile Assize court to deal with serious offences committed by minors in the 16-18 age brackets. Similarly close to 20 US states allow juvenile criminals to be tried as adults.
In July, the Supreme Court had rejected petitions for lowering the age of juvenility from existing 18 years, turning down the demand in the wake of a 17-year-old’s involvement in the brutal gang-rape of Nirbhaya. However, the SC recently said that it would examine whether juvenility should be considered on a case to case basis keeping in view the maturity of the offender and the heinousness of the crime.