The Juvenile Justice Act was earlier passed in the year 2000 by the
parliament which had the provisions to try anyone under the age of 18 in
juvenile justice system . This act had been in force since 15 years until the
infamous 2012 gang rape case in which one of the offenders was a few
months short of 18 years . So the law was amended last year and under the
amended law , in case of heinous crimes committed by a minor who has
completed or is above the age of 16 years , the juvenile justice board will try
the minor as an adult .
As SC judge MB Locur has rightly said “If we put a child who does not
deserve to be sent to the adult criminal justice system, he will be in great
trouble,”
If you can expect a person of 16 years to be sensible enough to know the
consequences of his act then you must also give them the voting rights . I
mean that if you can try a person of 16 years as an adult in case of heinous
crimes then you must consider the person as an adult in every aspect
including universal adult franchise , giving the driving license , legal
intoxication of alcohol etc.
Yes , the child welfare committees do look after the institutional care for the
children in their respective districts but the ashamed fact is that the juvenile
homes are more of understaffed and overcrowded hell holes than reform
centers . So my question is that what will be the future of these children ?
Will they always remain in the dark ? Will they be able to learn the lesson
that the constitution is trying to teach them ?
Quoting Nelson Mandela “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s
soul than the way in which it treats children .” So the major problem is that
the brutal gang rape and murder of a student in a bus on a winter night in
Delhi , the quality of the soul of the Indian society stands on rest . Then what
should exactly be done so that the offender learns his lesson without his
future being in dark .
Well, there is scientific evidence to the level of immaturity in a developing
brain and a teenagers brain is always developing compounded by the
confusion of bodily changes and the surging hormones and each and every
teenager goes through this process and we all have our own way to react to
these changes depending on the kind of surrounding we have been in and the
kind of upbringing we have experienced .
Many of us have been steadied by a caring hand of our parents , teachers and
siblings and have been inculcated with morals , values and ethics of lives .
But think about those children who in these tortuous years of growing up
have absolutely no one to reach out to . Many of the children living in slums
don’t have a helping hand and their growing years are neglected. So many of
them reach the stage of adult crimes from lost childhood .
So when the children of our country lose their way , we should guide them ,
punish them and correct them so that they can have a better future but we
should never stop taking care of them and let their future go in the dark . I am
not saying that we should forgive the grave crimes like murder and rape
committed by them but an adult prison is the least likely place where the
juvenile will learn his lesson and his goodness will be reclaimed . In order to
deter the crimes committed by children , trying them to adults is not the best
option but it is best prevented by reaching out to them on time with open
arms and imparting them with education and knowledge . Harsher
punishments for juveniles will only brutalise them more instead of helping
them in any manner .
