Since the ancient times there existed a presumption that the Juveniles should be treated moderately because there is a thought that the younger generation have a habit to respond in frustrations that are serious and are accompanied with aggressive approaches. In the last few years, the crime committed by the children under the age of 15-16 have increased a lot. The general reasons behind the increase are early life experiences, lack of education, economic conditions, and upbringing. Along with that there is an increase in the usage of children for illegal purposes and for carrying put unlawful activities.

For the protection of children, Juvenile Justice Act was enacted and before this Act there existed Children Act of 1960 which provided for uniform policy that protected the interests and rights of the juvenile and it looked at the care, treatment, and development of the child. But with development int the international rules and regulations and a subsequent increase in the crimes committed by Juveniles the lawmakers were compelled to make new and stricter laws for the Juvenile system in India, because of that, the Juvenile Justice act of 1986 was made, and it was amended in the year 2000 and finally Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 was formed. The Juvenile Justice Act mainly dealt with the protection of rights of the Juvenile offenders. The introduction of the Act has replaced many existing Juvenile Laws and introduced some changes, one of them are that age group of 16-18 years should be tried as an adult.

DEFINITION OF CHILD UNDER VARIOUS LAWS:

Generally, a child means a person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years and is not competent enough to understand what is right and what is wrong, or whether a decision is right for himself or not. In modern times mostly all the countries have adopted the principle of ‘doli incapax’ which basically means that incapability of committing a crime. When this principle is interpreted with Indian Laws, the result is that no juvenile under the age of 7 years can be prosecuted for the commission of a crime. It basically states the minimum age for the children who should be exempted from criminal liability because of their inability to know the nature or the consequences of that act.

According to 2(12) of Juvenile Act, 2015 child means any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. The Act basically classifies child into two types: –

• Child who has not yet attained the age of 18 years and has committed an offence i.e., child that conflicts with law
• Child as defined under Section 14 of the Act i.e., Child in need of care and protection

Definition of ‘child’ under Untied Nation Convention: the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, 1989 defines ‘child’ as any human being below the age of 18 years.

Difference between child and juvenile: A person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years is a minor, in general sense both the terms have the same meaning, but the difference lies in the implications in the eyes of law. When a child is accused of committing an offence, he/she is not tried as an adult but is send to the Child Care centre, but juvenile is a person who is between the age of 16-18 years, and if a Juvenile commits an offence, he/she is considered as a juvenile offender and is tried as an adult I n the court of law.  

JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT, 2015

The Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 replace the act of 2000 because there was a need for a more effective classification that focused on Juvenile friendly approach for adjudication and disposal of the matters. The approach of the courts towards juvenile should be different from the adults, it is noticed that when the children and adult both are dependent on the same justice method, they find themselves victimised by the system, so there were suggestions made in the Parliament that the juveniles should be given more time and space for transformation and improvement. Thus, the new Act focused on these aspects and was formed for protection of the rights of the juvenile offenders.

Some of the main elements of the act are:

• Section 2(e) of the Act defined the term ‘child’ as any person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years. The Act also classifies the term ‘child’ into, child in need of care and protection and child in conflict with law.
• Distinction has been made in terming the offences as heinous, serious, and petty. A heinous offence is punishable with minimum 7 years of imprisonment, a serious offence is punishable with minimum 3-7 years of imprisonment, while a petty offence is punishable with a 3-year imprisonment.
• Introduction of Juvenile Courts, special courts were made that will be trying the Juvenile offenders.
• There are provisions related to crimes committed against children in chapter 9 of the Act and a whole new section is provided in the Act for adoption and provisions related to it (chapter 8 of the Act).
• A complete differentiation of child in conflict with law and child in need of care and protection is made by the Act.
• Juvenile Justice Board was formed for the purpose of hearing the matters of Juvenile in conflict with the Law. The Act mandates setting up of Juvenile Justice Boards in each district with a MM and social workers, that should include woman. It will make inquiries in the offence committed by the juvenile and decide whether he/she should be sent to rehabilitation centre or to children’s court to be tried as an adult.
• Child Welfare Committees were to be made in each district as per this act which would consist of one chairman and four other members, one of whom should be a woman.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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