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India lowers criminal trial age to 16
On Tuesday, the Juvenile Justice Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha – the upper house of the parliament.
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The Lok Sabha had over 100 percent productivity in the winter session of parliament, while the Rajya Sabha could not even reach the halfway mark, working only 46 percent of its time, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday. “Juvenile Justice Bill which has been passed in RS is a tribute to our daughter”, the girl’s father said. She said the juvenile crime is the fastest rising segment of the crime and “You can not have a more comprehensive, nuanced and compassionate bill”. Under Section 15, special provisions have been made to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
Legal experts also warned that the new juvenile law could be misused, suggesting parents or police could criminalise teenagers who had sex before turning 18 – the age of consent in India – by accusing them of rape.
JD(U)’s Kahkashan Parveen, who was a former Bihar Women Commission Chief, asked how the Government, despite being a signatory to the United Nations Charter of Rights of the Child, was reducing the age of juvenile criminality from 18 to 16 years.
The law change was spurred into action by an uproar over the release of a minor convicted in a 2012 fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a Delhi bus.
The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was referred to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015, referred to a Joint Committee of both the Houses.
Despite such a situation, Maneka Gandhi introduced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill in Parliament only in August previous year.
“Lowering the age doesn’t matter since such a heinous crime can be committed by a 14-year-old as well”.
Yechury said the law would not apply to the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case.
Nirbhaya’s mother welcomed the Bill, though with the regret that it wasn’t passed before.
She further added that if the court decides to send the juvenile to an adult jail, the juvenile would have the power to appeal the court’s decision.
A money bill is required to be passed only in the Lok Sabha and not Rajya Sabha.
He was released from the correctional home on Sunday after completing his sentence, amid protests by the parents of the victim and others in the national capital.
Death sentences are being appealed against by four adult convicts in the case. “Juvenile crime in India is still just 1.2 percent”, Karat said.
However, critics say that India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which mandates that all children under the age of 18 be treated equally, and say the new law will violate the convention.
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“We can do nothing about that young man – he will come, he will go his own way in life, and God willing be a decent citizen afterwards, if it’s possible”, she said.