Cabinet nod to juvenile justice law amendments gives more powers to District Magistrates

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 that gives more powers to the district magistrates in adoption cases besides bringing child protection units and specialised juvenile justice police units under their jurisdiction.

The government is likely to bring the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 in the second leg of Budget Session. It had already indicated its intent to bring this bill in January when it placed it in a list of legislations it proposed to bring during the Budget Session circulated among MPs.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the amendments, which made it clear that District Magistrates (DMs) along with Additional DMs will monitor the functions of the agencies implementing Juvenile Justice Act in every district.

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Bringing in more efficiency in the functioning of Child Welfare Committees, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said, the amendments also propose background checks of members being chosen to these panels. So far, no such checks have been conducted.

Streamlining the registration of Child Care Institutions, Irani said DMs will conduct a background check of the applicants, including the institution's capacity, before recommending its suitability for registration by the state government. At present, there is no such mechanism to examine the capacity and other facilities of institutions seeking registration.

The DMs will also independently evaluate the functioning of Child Welfare Committees, specialised juvenile justice police units and registered institutions.

The scope of JJ Act has also been enlarged to consider children who are victims of trafficking, drug abuse, abandonment by guardians and those rescued from child labour in category of "Children In Need of Care and Protection" (CNCP).

Another proposed amendment said that offences where the maximum sentence is more than seven years but no minimum sentence is prescribed or a minimum sentence of less than 7 years is provided shall be treated as serious offences within the JJ Act.