The apex court has asked the central government to have a re-look at the law on juveniles involved in serious crimes like murder and rape. The court has asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to consult with the Centre and report to the court in May.
The decision was reached Monday in response to an appeal filed by a murder convict from Haryana, who wanted his life sentence overturned on the grounds that he had been below 18 at the time of crime and hence, cannot be tried by a regular court.
Harsher Punishments for Juveniles
Since the horrific December 16 gangrape, the demands for harsher punishments for juveniles gained momentum from all quarters – government ministers and legal experts alike have advocated bringing down the age limit from 18 to 16––especially in cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder.
Even BJP minister Maneka Gandhi, under whose leadership in 2000 the age of juveniles was raised from 16 to 18 in India to conform to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, is now propagating reducing it back to 16. In an interview with CNN-IBN, the Child and Welfare Minister said:
We are changing the law and I am personally working on it to bring 16-year-olds into the purview. According to the police, 50 per cent of the crimes are committed by 16-year-olds who know the Juvenile Justice Act. But now for premeditated murder, rape, if we bring them into the purview of the adult world, then it will scare them.
– Maneka Gandhi
The Counter Argument
However, there still are many who claim that reducing the age of adulthood or trying juveniles in regular courts isn’t the right approach.
Human Rights Lawyer, Vrinda Grover had earlier insisted that there is no massive spurt in juveniles committing all the rapes or majority of rapes.
Official records may claim that there has been an increase in the number of minors arrested for sexual crimes – 2,838 minors between the ages of 16-18 were arrested for sexual crimes last year as compared to 1,550 in 2013, which is an 83 percent increase. But the crimes in their age group only constituted 2.4 percent of the 117,000 committed in 2013.
– Vrinda Grover
Despite the rise in numbers, activists said those arrested for rape in the age group of 16-18 still only constituted 0.002 percent of the 70 million in that age group.
Delhi High Court advocate and child rights activist Anant Asthana cited the ongoing juvenile justice issue in the US––a doctrine was passed which has led to 12-year-olds being tried in adult courts resulting in overflowing number of youths in prison in America.
Instead of imprisoning them, we need to work on a better rehabilitation programme.
– Anant Ashthana
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