CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN INDIA
• Introduction
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 brings a new dawn to juvenile justice in India with the provision wherein minors between the ages of 16 and 18 who are accused of serious crimes can be transferred to adult criminal courts. The juvenile justice boards have a responsibility with the tough tasks of ascertaining age, evaluating the seriousness of the offence, carrying out an initial intake and deciding whether or not to send the child to the children’s court. The children’s court should then reconsider whether the transferred youngster to be tried as an adult or as a child.
The Nirbhaya gang rape case was one of the historical incidents that led the Indian legal system to reassess the laws on juvenile crimes. This study describes how this case has affected India’s juvenile justice system. Punishment and Rehabilitation are the two core aspects of India’s juvenile justice system. The juvenile justice system in India needs to balance between punitive and rehabilitative measures ideally.
Whether the Indian juvenile justice system is supportive of the retributive or the restorative approaches has been covered by this study. This study’s conclusion offers some suggestions for improving the shortcomings of the Indian juvenile justice system as it stands right now.
• Key Provisions in the Juvenile Justice Act
The President of India gave his approval to the JUVENILE Justice Act, 2015, which was enacted by Parliament, on December 13, 2015. In India, it became operative on January 15, 2016. For children below eighteen years who are discovered to have committed any crime that existed during India, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 extended the prohibition of using jails or police stations at any stage of the proceeding and in any case. The Latin word “delinquent,” which is a verb that means to desert or run away, is where the word “delinquency”
Juvenile delinquency is the misbehaviour of an adolescent in terms of crime and antisocial activities. The Act recognizes as a “child in conflict with the law” anyone who is alleged or found “to have committed an offense and who has not completed eighteen years of age on the date of commission of such offense,” says the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act of 2015.
Juveniles and children are capable of committing crimes just the same as adults, from petty infractions to grave offenses. Offenses by juveniles are referred to as delinquencies only because the perpetrators are of that age. Three categories have been provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the identification of juvenile delinquencies:
i) Drug-related offenses, which encompass the use, possession, and sale of drugs with addictive qualities;
ii) Property crimes, which include minors obtaining property through intimidation or coercion;
iii) Violent crimes, which include homicide, grievous hurt, rape, and other acts of sexual assault.
• Contribution of Nirbhaya Case in the Indian Juvenile System
The brutal “Nirbhaya Gang Rape Case” occurred on December 16, 2012, and it stunned the whole nation. Among the six convicts, one committed suicide in prison, four were given death, and it was of a minor. The young criminal was merely six months from completing his age and was an adult. A PIL was filed in 2013 by BJP leader Mr. Subramaniam Swami before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, which called for the minor to be tried as an adult in a regular court before three-judge Supreme Court bench—Justice P. Sathasivam, Chief Justice; Justice Shiva Kirti; and Justice Ranjan Gogoi—declined to intervene in the “age of juvenility” even in cases where young men were convicted of most heinous crimes.
The court held that the Juvenile Justice Act provisions met with international as well as constitutional demands. The SC asked the Juvenile Justice Board to pass orders that are, legally appropriate and in the welfare of the youngster. He was tried separately in a juvenile court. He drew three years in a reformatory as a top sentence.
The Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015 followed after increased public outcry over the sentence given to the juvenile criminal for a mere 3-year sentence in a reform home rather than adult prosecution for his abhorrent acts. The Act introduced several notable Legal framework changes for minors. This act provided the opportunity for 16 to 18-year-old juveniles to have adult trial if they are accused of serious crimes
• Conclusion
The skyrocketing rate of adolescent crimes in modern society is very alarming. Since our country’s future is made by its little ones; thus, much depends on how the juvenile justice system works to contribute to that future. Recent cases have also made the world aware of the fact that children can commit heinous crimes like rape, murder, dacoity, etc. It must not be allowed that juvenile criminals avoid harsh punishment just because of their tender age. If juvenile criminals get no punishment at all or lesser sentence, they will not be prevented from committing the same crimes again in the future.
For some youths, living in reform houses is much better than fighting on the streets. Some of them will become used to living there and stop noticing when they commit similar crimes later in life. Therefore, minors should be punished criminals under the seriousness of the crime they committed, considering their age and capacity to understand the seriousness of their actions and its consequences. If juvenile offenders do not face punishment for misbehaviour, they will grow up believing that they are above the law and can get away with anything because of legal loopholes.
• References
o Ved Kumari, The Juvenile Justice Act 2015-Critical Understanding, Vol. 58, No. 1, Journal of the Indian Law Institute, pp. 83-103 (21 pages), 2016), https://www.jstor.org/stable/45163062
o JANEKSELA, GALAN M. “DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF FIVE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS: UNITED STATES, SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, INDIA, AND SOUTH AFRICA.” International
o Review of Modern Sociology, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 1–19. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41420985. Accessed 18 July 2024.
o Bhattacharyya, S. K. “JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN INDIA.” Journal of the Indian Law Institute, vol. 23, no. 4, 1981, pp. 606–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43950781. Accessed 18 July 2024.
o Shrusti Mulgund, A critical evaluation of juvenile justice system in India, International Journal of Advanced Research and Development www.advancedjournal.com ISSN: 2455-4030, Published: 09-02-2022 Volume 7, Issue 1, 2022, Page No. 18-21
Author: Nandini Achhra, 3rd BALLB(H) student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
Link to similar articles: https://jpassociates.co.in/indra-sawhney-v-uoi/
Link to Juvenile Justice Boards’ website: https://wcdhry.gov.in/juvenile-justice-board/
