Amended Juvenile Justice Act

The amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act was passed by the Lok Sabha on 7 May, 2015 and by the Rajya Sabha on 22 December. It received Presidential assent on 31 December and became law on 1 January, 2016.  

Section 15 of the amended act makes special provisions for child offenders aged 16 or above, who are accused of heinous offences such as murder and rape. Now such children are liable to be treated as adults. Until its passage, children below 18 could only be sent to correction homes and held for a maximum period of three years. Now, however, even a 16-year-old who is convicted for committing a heinous crime can face a life term.   

The amendment was made following the huge public outcry in the December 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case in which one of the alleged rapists got off with a three-year probation because he fell some months short of 18, which until then was considered the age of entering adulthood.

Under the new dispensation the Juvenile Justice Board is given the option of transferring cases of heinous offences to a Children’s Court (Court of Session) following a preliminary assessment.

Under the new provisions such children are to be lodged in a ‘place of safety’ both during and after the trial until they are 21-years-old. Thereafter the Children’s Court conducts a revaluation which determines whether the child is to be released on probation or sent to jail. In the latter case the sentencing would follow the lines of adults accused of similar crimes, which could extend from seven years in jail to life imprisonment.

The JJ Act, 2015 also marks out children under clearly defined categories such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children. Crimes will also be listed as petty, serious or heinous offences. These changes have arisen in an attempt to bring greater clarity in the powers, functions and responsibilities of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Clear timelines for inquiry are laid down and a separate chapter is included to streamline adoption of such children in view of the threat posed by trafficking. For the same reason it makes registration of childcare institutions mandatory, and imposes stiff penalties in case of noncompliance.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development says, ‘Under the institutional care, children are provided with various services including education, health, nutrition, de-addiction, treatment of diseases, vocational training, skill development, life skill education, counselling, etc. to help them play a constructive role in society. The variety of non-institutional options include: sponsorship and foster care including group foster care for placing children in a family environment which is other than (the) child’s biological family, which is to be selected, qualified, approved and supervised for providing care to children.’

It adds that offences committed against children that were not adequately covered under other laws will now be dealt with more comprehensively. These include sale and procurement of children for any purpose including illegal adoption, corporal punishment in childcare institutions, use of children by militant groups, offences against differently abled children and their kidnapping and abduction.

(The Act is available on the website of the Ministry of Women and Child Development: http://wcd.nic.in/acts/juvenile-justice-care-and-protection-children-act-2015)


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