Role of Juvenile Justice System in India

Author- Kumar Abhinav

2nd year Law Student at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) – A

Central University, Lucknow

This article provides a detailed discussion regarding the Role of Juvenile Justice

System in India.
 Introduction

“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children,

neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need can wait, the child cannot, right

now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being

developed. To him, we cannot answer ‘tomorrow’. His name is ‘Today’.” – Nobel Laureate

Gabrial Mistral.

The 'Nil Novi Spectrum,' which best represents the Juvenile Justice system,

implies that nothing is new on this planet. This has been an assumption in the

entire globe from ancient times that juveniles should be treated leniently since

there is a school of thinking that they have a tendency to reply carefully and

anxiously, which is followed by aggressive methods.

The Nirbhaya gang rape case, which shocked the entire nation in December 2012,

is the most egregious example of juvenile crime. Because the accused was only 6

months away from becoming an adult, this occurrence has sparked a lot of

discussion. Because a child was involved in such a horrible act, the Indian

legislature decided to pass the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act in 2015.

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 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHILD AND A

JUVENILE
According to section 2(e) of the Children Act, 1960, which was in effect from 1960 to 1986[4],

a “child” is defined as a boy or a girl who has not yet reached the age of sixteen or eighteen

years. A “child” is defined in subsection 12 of Section 2 of The Juvenile (Care and Protection)

Act, 2015 as any person under the age of eighteen. The term “child” is divided into two

categories by the Act: –

– a child who conflicts with the law

– a child in need of protection and care

A child who has committed an offence and was under the age of eighteen at the time of the

offence is classified as “a child in conflict with the law,” while the second category is “a child

in need of care and protection,” which includes any child who is not facing any charges as

defined in Section 14 of the Act.[5]

Although a child and a juvenile are nearly identical, there are some differences in their

implications and circumstances that distinguish them. Although a child is simply seen as an

innocent individual, the term “juvenile” has a negative legal connotation. Juvenile denotes

immaturity or a young criminal, while child denotes youth and naiveté. In simple terms, if a

youngster is charged with a crime, he is referred to as a juvenile.

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 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: A RISE IN CURRENT

SCENARIO
Juvenile delinquency includes the involvement of a juvenile in illegal activities or behaviour.

Delinquency may not always be considered a criminal activity, but such behaviour is harmful

to the child and the society itself.

The crime rate in India is already on the rise, and what we see now is a rise in juvenile offenders.

The biggest example of such a heinous crime committed by a juvenile would be the Nirbhaya

case of 2012. This outraged the people and so the authorities deemed it fit to change the law.

Causes of juvenile delinquency:

1. SOCIAL FACTORS – Broken Home, Poverty, Bad Company, Industrial development

and economic growth

2. PERSONAL FACTORS – Mental instability, Emotional problems

3. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS – Early physiological maturity or low intelligence

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 EVOLUTION OF JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN

INDIA

PRE-INDEPENDENCE ERA

Ancient India, though governed by many laws, had hardly any laws specifically dealing with

juvenile delinquency. As the problem of neglected children and juvenile delinquency increased

over time, a need was felt to enact a law in this regard. During the colonial rule, in 1843, the

first centre for these children called “Ragged School” was established by Lord Cornwallis.

After 1850, the Apprentice Act was passed, chronologically the first law to require that children

aged 10–18 years convicted in courts be provided with vocational training as part of their

rehabilitation process. Another landmark law was the Reform Schools Act, 1876 and 1897.

Under the Act, the court was empowered to detain offenders in a correctional school for a

period of two to seven years, but after attaining the age of eighteen, they would not be kept in

these institutions. In addition, the Criminal Procedure Act, 1898 provided special treatment to

juvenile offenders. The Code provided for probation for good conduct by criminals up to the

age of twenty-one. Then the Indian Children Act was enacted by the Indian Prisons Committee

(1919–1920). Under this act, the individual provincial government was empowered to make

separate laws for juveniles in their respective jurisdictions. The provinces of Madras, Bengal

and Bombay passed their own Children’s Acts in 1920, 1922 and 1924 respectively.

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POST INDEPENDENCE ERA

In 1960, after winning independence, a new act aimed at children was passed. It was the

Children Act of 1960 that established "the care, protection, maintenance, welfare, training,

education, and rehabilitation of neglected or delinquent children in the Union Territories, as

well as the trial of delinquent children in the Union Territories"[16]. Even after that, the

juvenile justice system had to deal with a number of issues, the most serious of which was that

different states had different laws dealing with juvenile delinquency, resulting in children in

similar situations being judged differently based on different provisions in different laws.

The increasing number of cases of juvenile crimes in the last recent years and the horrific

incident of “Delhi Gang Rape Case” have compelled the law makers to enact laws. The biggest

drawback of this act was that it did not have well-equipped legal provisions and the

deterioration of the juvenile system was also the main reason for stopping juvenile crimes in

India. This act was soon replaced by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.

JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT, 2015

there existed a need for a more powerful and viable justice framework that focused on

impediment in the form of reformative methods. Juveniles should not be treated as adults,

there were disputes in Parliament that juveniles should be given more room for change or

reconstruction or reform and this is possible only when there is extraordinary justice

framework. Subsequently, new demonstration, for example, to the Juvenile Justice (Care and

Protection of Children) Act, 2015, focused on a juvenile agreed method of mediation and

disposal of cases.

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Salient Features of the Act are as follows: –

• Section 2(12) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

defines a child as a person who has not completed the age of 18 years i.e. below the age

of 18 years. The Act has given a classification regarding the term ‘Child’ namely “Child

in need of care and protection” and Section 2 (13) of the Act, talks about “Child in

conflict with law”.

• A clear distinction was made regarding the aspects of the offences, meaning that

categories of crimes were created as heinous, serious and trivial. Specifications have

been made in respect of juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years who, if committed by

them of any kind of crime, after observing their mental capacity, be tried as an adult.

• Introduction of Juvenile Courts, which meant that special courts had to be set up that

would only try juvenile offences, such as NDPS courts, courts dealing with POCSO,

etc.

• Child Welfare Committee about ‘Child in need of care and protection’ and Juvenile

Justice Board is another authority concerning the ‘Juvenile in conflict with law’.

• Juvenile Justice Board: It is a judiciary body before which children detained or accused

of any crime are brought. It acts as a separate court for juveniles as they do not have to

be taken to regular criminal court. The Board consists of a Judicial Magistrate of the

first class and two social workers, of whom at least one must be a woman. The board is

child friendly and not intimidating for the child.

• Child Welfare Committee: The State Governments constitute these committees in the

districts as per the provisions of the Act. The committees have the power to deal with

matters of care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of children in

need of care and protection as well as to provide for their basic needs and protection.

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 • All child care institutions, whether run by the State Government or by voluntary or non-

governmental organizations, must be compulsorily registered under the Act within 6

months from the date of commencement of the Act.

• There is a separate new chapter on adoption to streamline adoption processes for

orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children. In addition, the Central Adoption

Resource Authority (CARA) was given the status of a statutory body to enable it to

perform its functions more effectively. The Act states that the adoption of a child is

final when the court issues an order of adoption.

PRESENT STATE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

IN INDIA
Like various nations, India had a legal system that specifically and explicitly manages the rights

and assurances of juvenile guilty parties who try to handle the issue of juvenile misconduct.

The juvenile justice system in India is based on three fundamental concerns:

Young children should not be tried in court, rather they should be corrected in the most ideal

way,

They should not be punished by the courts, but they should be given the opportunity to change

Early social controls for a child who violates the law should be established on non-punitive

treatment through a network of organizations, for example: – observation homes and special

homes.

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 CONCLUSION
Children are undoubtedly the future of this world. There is a great need for more reformed

legislation aimed at prevention of such juveniles so that their future and the future of the society

can be secured. It will help to make the world a better place and can also reduce the chances

of future crimes. Even juvenile delinquent acts by children can have a huge impact on their

future, and hence, need to be dealt with at an early stage.

The rising rate of juvenile delinquency in India is a matter of great concern and needs attention.

Although the government has enacted various laws and regulations to prevent the incidence of

juvenile offences, the current laws on juveniles are not creating a deterrent effect on juveniles

and thus the results are not useful and the legislative intent is not being fulfilled. To prevent

this issue of juvenile delinquency everyone has their own role as society has different role,

parents have different role, rehabilitation homes have been assigned a different role, etc. If all

these factors work accordingly then this real-life problem will be easily solved in very less

time.

REFERENCES
1. Website - https://blog.ipleaders.in/juvenile-justice-system-india/ visited on 17-06-2022

2. Website - https://www.juscorpus.com/the-role-of-the-juvenile-justice-system-in-india/

visited on 17-06-2022

3. Website - http://cara.nic.in/PDF/JJ%20act%202015.pdf visited on 18-06-2022

4. Website -

https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2148?sam_handle=123456789/1362

visited on 18-06-2022

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