JOIN USThe country has taken a step backward with Parliament passing the Juvenile Justice (Amendment) Bill which lowers the age of a legally defined juvenile from 18 to 16 in the case of heinous crimes. The bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha, and now the Rajya Sabha, where it was pending. The law, which existed till now, was based on a liberal
and enlightened view of human mind and behaviour. It had correctly assumed that a child cannot be assumed to have a sense of discrimination between good and bad and the ability to make value judgments before the age of 18. This was also in conformity with the UN convention on child rights to which India is a party. But the new bill, pushed ahead by the NDA government and supported in both Houses by main Opposition Congress, is a retrograde measure. It will put children in the 16-18 age group, who are charged with serious crimes, in the adult criminal justice system.
Till now, the law envisaged the use of justice and corrective machinery to reform and rehabilitate juvenile offenders. This should be the aim of the entire system of justice, but should especially be so in the case of children. But the new law takes a wrong view of the ends of justice and puts retribution and even revenge in place of justice. A parliamentary committee headed by Justice J S Verma had rejected the changes which have now been passed. The Supreme Court has rejected a number of petitions seeking lowering of the age of adulthood from 18 to 16. It seems that the public expression of sentiment at the time of the release of the accused in the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in 2011 put pressure on the government and parties to pass the bill. The Congress, which was ambivalent in its stand on the bill in the last few months, made a turn-around on the bill on the last day while CPM and NCP opposed the bill. Public pressure is no good reason for legislation. One case should also not be basis for legislation which affects the lives of millions of lives.
It is argued that children of the present times become adults earlier than children of past ages and attain sexual maturity early, and so laws should be changed to reflect the change. But this is a false notion. Children at 16 may now have more information and even knowledge than children of the same age in the past because of greater exposure to society and media. But they don’t acquire a sense of judgment at that age. There are psychologists who maintain that children become mature only by 21 or 22. We have taken a wrong and unwise decision by legislating a child-unfriendly law.