Juvenile Justice Act

Introduction

In the last few decades, the crime rate in India has increased and the crimes committed by
children has increased tremendously. If one analyses, the crimes committed by children is
mainly because their upbringing has lacked some basic values due to their economic
conditions, lack of education, improper parenting etc. Children are the future of the country.
They are the assets of the Nation. Children are the primary focus of the country for its
development and growth. However, even now majority of the children in our country are
living a life without any proper care and caution. Children are used as a tool to commit crime
because their minds can be easily manipulated.1

History of Juvenile Justice Act

In order to understand the state of Juvenile Justice System in India, one requires to
understand the history for introducing the law in the country. The term juvenile justice was
first used In the USA, in 1899, while passing Juvenile Court Act. The term “Juvenile” has
been derived from a latin term “Juvenis” meaning Young. According to some jurists, this
law was introduced by the English Federal courts of High Chancery. While others argue that
its history goes back to common law of crimes. Under the common law, a child below the age
of 7 years is considered as incapable of developing mental capacity to commit crime. A child
between the age of 7 – 14 years in also considered as incapable unless it is shown by his
understanding. However, Indian judiciary is the result of western ideas and influence. The
juvenile court established under the Madras Children Act, 1920, and the English Children
Act, 1908 were not different. Then later followed by Bengal and Bombay in 1922, 1924 resp.

Going back to the history, The Apprentices Act, 1850 was the first legislation that led down
the foundation for juvenile justice laws in India. Later, by the recommendations given by the
Indian Jail Committee in the year 1919-1920, that the treatment of juveniles should be
completely different from the adults and suggested the formation of juvenile courts.
IPC, also provides protection to the children from evil designs of adults. 2 In the year
1876, the Reformatory School Act was enacted and was considered as a landmark legislation
for juvenile justice system in India. Later, every state had its own juvenile justice system and

1
Shraddha Agarwal, Juvinile Justive Act: A Socio-legal Study, Academike, (Nov. 23 2015),
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/juvenile/.
2
Indian Penal Code, 1860, Sec 82.
this arose many problems. So in order to cover up the loopholes, the Juvenile Justice (Care
and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which was comprehensive amended in 2006 by Act
No.33 of 2006. In the year 2012, after the dark memories of Nirbhaya case, the Act was again
amended. Ministry of Women and Children Development Maneka Gandhi, clearly said that
“an adult crime by a juvenile requires adult punishment, not leniency”. Therefore, after long
years of debates and clashes, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)
Amendment Act, 2015 was passed keeping in mind the required changes in the society.3

Difference between a child and a juvenile.

A person below the legal age of eighteen years is a minor. He cannot be tried as an adult for a
crime he has committed but is sent to a Chile Care Centre. A juvenile, on the other hand, is a
person between the of sixteen to eighteen years. Their implications in the eyes of law is
different. Juvenile generally means immature or young offender.

Salient features of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

 The Act aims to consolidate the law relating to children. The interest of children that
is to be protected and the laws and order of a country are always in conflict with one
another. This Act has solved the conflict as much as possible by providing provisions
for care and protection of children below the age of eighteen and has also provided
them treatment, development, social-integration. The provisions are framed in such a
way that it provides a child friendly Act.
 The claim of Juvenility is to be decided by the Juvenile Justice Board keeping in mind
Rule 12 of Juvenile Justice Rules, 2007. The decision has to be taken by the board
before the proceedings but the question can be raised by the court in any stage of the
proceedings. In the decided case of Satbir Singh & others v. State of Haryana, the
Supreme Court said that the purpose of determining the Juvenility of a person, the
date of birth recorded in the school records shall be taken into consideration. But in
the later case of Arnit Das v. State of Bihar, Supreme Court declared that the age to
determine nullity shall be the date on which the accused was brought before the
competent authority. Under Section 94 of the Act, “on the basis of appearance” is
used in order to determine the age.

3
The History and Growth of Juvenile Justice Delivery System, Chapter -5,
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/145628/9/09_chapter5..pdf
  Section 4(2) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015, 4 The Juvenile
Justice Board must comprise of Principal Magistrate and two social workers, one of
them should be a woman.
 Under Section 9 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 5 the Magistrate who is not
empowered to exercise the power of Juvenile Justice Board, if under this section is of
the opinion that the person accused is a juvenile, then he must determine the age of
the person and send him along with the records to the juvenile Justice Board. In-fact,
while determining the age, the magistrate should not be hyper-technical.
 Bail granted to Juvenile – generally, the juvenile is entitled to bail. His bail is
refused on reasonable grounds only Section 12 of the Act, 6 uses the term
“notwithstanding anything in the Code of Criminal Procedure”, this means that this
provision has an overriding effect.
 Penalties – Different penalties are mentioned in the Act depending upon the offences
committed. Like, under Section 74 of the Act,ṅ 7 that talks about offence of
Prohibition on disclosure of identity of children, the punishment given is
imprisonment which may extend to six months or fine of rupees two lakh rupees or
both.
 New welfare institutions established – Section 43 and 44 of the Act, 8 provides
form the constitution of open shelter and foster homes respectively by the State
Government for the protection of Children. Here, the children are provided with
education, basic health checkup, food, shelter, life skill, skill development to help
them to hold a constructive role in their lives.
 Confidentiality – Section 74 prohibits mentioning the name of the children accused
of the crime in any newspaper or magazine. No disclosure can be made with respect
to name, identity, school, address etc.
 Chapter 89 -Adoption- The provisions under Chapter 8 talks about eligibility of the
adoptive parents and the procedure to be followed for adoption.

4
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 4(2).
5
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 9.
6
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 12.
7
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 74.
8
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 43 & 44.
9
Chapter 8 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
 Critical Analyses

If one closely analyse the Act of 2015, one will come across some shortcomings.
According to the researcher, Section 14(1) and (2)10 are matters that are debateable. The
ground in which the Juvenile Justice Board will decide if the accused will be tried under
Juvenile Justice or in a normal court is not clearly mentioned within a time period of 1
and a half month. Even if they are held guilty, they will be sent to ‘place of safety’ till the
age of 21 years. Till now most of the states do not have the place of safety also known as
‘Bortals’.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has extended the
definition of heinous offences beyond rape and murder. This means that the Juveniles
can be tried under normal courts for offences like drugs and waging war.

Based on the analyses of the experts, it is to be taken into consideration whether or not to
consider a child in a ‘child-like’ mindset. This is highly subjective.

Comparative analyses of India and British model of Juvenile Justice Act.

In India, Juvenile Law is governed by Juvenile Justice (care and Protection of Children)
Act, 2015 whereas In UK, Juvenile Justice system is Crime and Disorder Act, 1998.
There are some basic differences like, in UK, a person below the age of eighteen years is
considered as juvenile. The juvenile is taken to a rehabilitation centre and not normal
courts. In UK, the juvenile appears in front of youth court. In case the offence committed
is very serious, the person is taken to the Crown Court for trial or sentence.

Conclusion

It is the right of every child to live a life of joy, in a harmless and nurturing environment.
However, unfortunately, there are few who are deprived of these basic amenities and they
grow to be juvenile delinquents. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)
Act, 2015, is not a perfect law to protect the children. The objective is clear – to punish
the one who has committed the crime. The present Juvenile Law is however, not free
from lacunae. It is the duty of the centre to attain the object of the law by not hampering
the rights of the children and keeping in mind the true mindset of the children. The Law
has brought tremendous changes in the pervious Act of 2000 in terms of treatment of
children and punishments imposed. The increasing rates of crimes committed by youth in
10
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Sec. 4(1) & (2).
 India, is a serious problem and still there is a lot to be done in order to attain the
objective.11

11
Sahil Ahuja, Salient features of juvenile justice act 2015: A comparative study with UK, International Journal
of Law, (Nov. 6 2018), Vol 4 Issue 6, file:///C:/Users/Hp/Downloads/4-6-17-298.pdf.