Trying juvenile offenders as adults

"The manner, in which brutal and heinous crimes have been committed over a period of time by the juveniles and still continue to be committed, makes us wonder whether the Act, 2015 has sub served its object," an SC bench said recently. The observations pose a question not only to the law makers but also to the society by and large. It is not just the lawmakers who should ponder over it but even the civil society. Is not it time for us to mull over the laws that are becoming redundant due not only changing times but also due to changing human nature

According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of children) Act, 2015, "juvenile" means "a child below the age of 18 years." Under this Act, "in no case a child alleged to be in conflict with law shall be placed in a police lock up or lodged in a jail." That is the definition and the law. So, if a juvenile is in conflict with law - this simply means committing a crime - however heinous his act may be, he will not face serious consequences. He shall not be brought to justice.

So, such juveniles go scot-free. What if the juvenile is in the know of the meaning of scot-free or is taught the meaning of it by someone else? Scot-free simply means that such juveniles are completely free from obligation, harm, or penalty despite committing a crime.

In fact, no one needs to teach them the 'advantages' of the Juvenile Act at all. Thanks to the boom of IT, violent films and social media and the regular media, all those who keep abreast with the happenings in the world will get 'educated' enough to know that they can commit a crime including rape, murder and toruture of their victims and still get away from such crimes. It is only of late that the courts are asking them to be tried as adults in some cases. If such juvenile families are influential enough, then they will anyway escape the clutches of justice.

The other day, the Supreme Court made an interesting observation regarding the Juvenile Act in this context. While dealinig with the Kathua rape and murder case, a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and J B Pardiwala said the manner in which many crimes have been committed over a period of time by the juveniles and still continue to be committed, makes it wonder whether the government should rethink the framework under the Juvenile Justice Act.

Is this because of the leniency offered to juveniles that they are encouraged to do so? We have seen from the 'Nirbhaya case' and many more later that juveniles are becoming part of the crimes committed by the adults or themselves are committing crimes on their own. The streak of cruelty in some cases displayed by the juveniles is shocking the nation often. "We have started gathering an impression that the leniency with which the juveniles are dealt with in the name of the goal of reformation is making them more and more emboldened in indulging in such heinous crimes. It is for the government to consider whether its enactment of 2015 has proved to be effective or something still needs to be done in the matter before it is too late in the day," the Court said.

The bench further added "There is a school of thought, existing in our country that firmly believes that howsoever heinous the crime may be, be it single rape, gangrape, drug peddling or murder but if the accused is a juvenile, he should be dealt with keeping in mind only one thing i.e., the goal of reformation. The school of thought, we are taking about believes that the goal of reformation is ideal. The manner, in which brutal and heinous crimes have been committed over a period of time by the juveniles and still continue to be committed, makes us wonder whether the Act, 2015 has sub served its object".

The observations pose a question not only to the law makers but also to the society by and large. It is not just the lawmakers who should ponder over it but even the civil society. Is not it time for us to mull over the laws that are becoming redundant due not only changing times but also due to changing human nature.

The court was dealing with the Kathua rape and murder case in which the age of one of the accused was being discussed. The case pertains to the rape and murder of an 8-year-old child belonging to the nomadic Bakerwal community. The victim was found dead on January 17, 2018. Owing to the sensitivity of the case, the Supreme Court had in May 2018, transferred the trial to Pathankot. It should be noted that in most such cases the victims happen to be from deprived sections of the society or working girls migrated to cities from remote corners of the country. There were seven accused in the case and while six got convicted, the seventh, ShubhamSangra was being tried before Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) due to his age.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had affirmed an order of the trial court which found Sangra to be a juvenile.The Supreme Court had, however, stayed those proceedings before the JJB in February 2020 after J&K moved the present plea. The Supreme Court in its judgment ruled that Sangra should be tried as an adult and not a juvenile. "A casual or cavalier approach while recording as to whether an accused is a juvenile or not cannot be permitted as the courts are enjoined upon to perform their duties with the object of protecting the confidence of a common man in the institution entrusted with the administration of justice," the Court said while ordering thus. It is not a sweeping observation either as the court suggested that in case the court itself is in doubt over the age, then any expert opinion in the matter should not be brushed aside "in the interest of justice".

A total of 31,170 cases were registered against juveniles in 2021, showing a 4.7% increase over 2020, when the number of cases was 29,768. A majority of them — 76.2% or 28,539 in absolute terms — were in the 16 to 18 age group. Crime rate among juveniles had also gone up from 6.7% to 7.0%.

The 2011 Population Census put the child population of the country at 4441.5 lakhs. In all, 37,444 juveniles were apprehended. Of these 32,654 were taken under sections of the Indian Penal Code, and 4790 under state and local laws.

What is more, going by the NCRB's report "Crime in India 2021", Delhi seems to have more juveniles indulging in crime and violation of law. Of the total of 3129 juveniles who have come into conflict with the law in all the union territories put together, 2643 are from Delhi. Much larger states like Rajasthan saw 2757 cases and Tamil Nadu 2212.

Whatever might be the defence offered in favour of juveniles, one should not forget the quotient of violence involved in some cases. Is the country ready to really go in for reforms? Of every kind?