Are Juvenile Justice Laws A Terror in India?

The Juvenile Justice laws are social sensitive in nature and totally dependent on two factors - understanding the capacity of the convicted child and the discretion of the Court.

What is Juvenile Justice?

It is a well-accepted social fact that no one is a born criminal, a child committing a crime is subject to surrounding circumstances that influenced his or her mind negatively. For the children involved in any illegal activities, the Government prefers to put the best attempts to divert their mind towards positive learning, so that they understand the importance of living a life in a civilised way.

Punishments are preventive measures, but for a kid, who has not understood the good side of society yet, the punishment will not have a fruitful effect. Rather, putting the child into a habit of a disciplined lifestyle may have a better effect on him or her.

These recent cases will give a fair idea.

Some Recent Cases of Juvenile Justice:

Case 1

15 years old child was denied bail

In the case of CRR No. 23 of 2021, Date of Decision 08.02.2021, before Justice Jaishree Thakur at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the bail petition of a Juvenile was dismissed on the ground that if he is released on bail, there is a probability that he will get in touch with the other criminals known to him, which could be harmful to him.

The petitioner was a kid of 15 years and was under trial by the Juvenile Justice Board for offences registered under Sec. 307, 376, 457 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Court quoted the provision under Sec. 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 which enables the Court to decline the bail petition if the child is in association with known criminals and such grant of bail can make the child vulnerable to moral, physical and psychological risk.

Case 2

Writ of Habeas Corpus is not maintainable against judicial order of Magistrate sending the minor victim to Children Protection Homes

The Full Bench of Allahabad High Court recently held that an order passed by a Judicial Magistrate or Child Welfare Committee to send the women and children to the correctional homes (women protection house and children care house), cannot be challenged based on the Writ petition of Habeas Corpus.

The judgement was passed while dealing with the matter of a 17 years old girl who allegedly claimed that she has been illegally confirmed in the children care home.

Case 3

Children going back to parents or guardian from children homes are subject to individual assessment.

On 1 December 2020, the Supreme Court directed to conduct an individual assessment before sending the children back to the parents or guardian from the Children Homes.

The Apex Court referred to the provision of Sec. 40(3) of the Juvenile Justice Act which imposes the requirement of validation of the sustainability or fitness of the parents to take the children back home.

This provision aims to protect the children from being further exposed to an unhealthy environment which may enhance their criminal mentality.

The preventive measures adopted by the juvenile justice laws in India is categorised as per the age group.

However, the question always rise that how much logical it is to give the protection of juvenile justice to the ones close to 18 years of age because they already have developed a sense of good and bad to a considerable extent. In such a situation, the court uses its discretionary power to decide the degree of softness that can be shown towards the convict.