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India to lower age for putting youths on trial for ‘heinous crimes’

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the government had enumerated the bill several times in the monsoon session and the winter session but it could not be passed.

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The accused was found to be a juvenile at the time of the crime as he was just shy of his 18th birthday when he committed the crime.


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The wait within the passing of the statement, that was handed by Lok Sabha in-May, had come under sharp emphasis recently with Nirbhayais parents plus some different companies protesting from the launch of the juvenile active in Dec 2012 gang rape, and homicide that had shaken the mind of the whole country.


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The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, which provides for lowering the age for trial from 18 years, was passed by Rajya Sabha with a voice vote.

TMC MP Derek O’ Brien earlier urged his fellow parliamentarians to “not wait for the ideal bill” and pass it in its current form.

Offences committed by juveniles are categorised as heinous offences which includes those with minimum punishment of seven years of imprisonment under IPC or any other law; serious offences which would lead to three to seven years of imprisonment and petty offences which would be for below three years of imprisonment. The victim’s father hailed the decision terming it a “tribute to our daughter”.

The Bill, which was passed on December 22, will ensure that henceforth, persons from the age of 16 years involved in heinous crimes will be prosecuted as adults.

The Juvenile Justice (care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014 replaces the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000. “JJ amendments finally passed in Parliament”.

As the opposition created uproar, Naqvi said these Bills were important and should be passed even without discussion.

A minor accused of “heinous” crimes would then be examined by a board of psychologists and social behaviour experts, who will assess whether the defendant should be tried as a child or an adult.

The Bill was kept in cold storage for long, before public outrage spilled over the roads of Delhi as the juvenile convict of the horrific gangrape and murder of the 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi in December 2012 was released recently.

India’s National Crime Records Bureau data shows that 16- to 18-year-olds account for a majority of minors arrested for crimes, but activists said the latest amendment violated child rights and would not stem sex crimes.

Left parties staged a walkout after the Chair declined CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury’s request to send the Bill to a parliament select committee for further examination.

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Responding to an instance narrated by DMK leader Kanimozhi, Gandhi said there could be instances where the child does not have to go through the adult system at all. “The juvenile convict who was the most brutal was set free despite our repeated pleas and demands”, said the mother Asha Devi outside Parliament.

India to lower age for putting youths on trial for criminal offences