Comments
The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Juvenile Justice Bill that provides for the treatment of juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 as adults, when accused of heinous crimes such as murder and rape.
Though a section of MPs argued that the Bill needs further consideration and should be sent to a Select Committee, the majority felt that it should be passed at the earliest, given the public demand for such an amendment.
Parents of the December 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim, Asha Devi and Badri Singh Pandey, were present in the visitors’ gallery of the House when the Bill was being discussed in the House. They had reached out to the Opposition parties for an early passage of the Bill after one of the culprits in the case, a minor, was let off the other day.
The CPI(M) walked out after its demand that the Bill be sent to a Parliamentary committee was shot down. “Will we have to amend the Bill again when another criminal of 15 years and 11 months commits a similar crime? We are making a law. We should not be influenced by sentiments,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said before walking out.
Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi said there cannot be a more nuanced Bill on the matter. “You cannot have a more comprehensive, more nuanced and compassionate Bill,” she said. “We may not be able to do anything about the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case but we can deter many other boys from doing so,” she added.
She answered concerns from Opposition members that sending a teenager to a jail may harden the criminal tendencies in the person. She said no juvenile will be sent to the jail directly and added that the Juvenile Justice Board will have experts and psychologists who will first decide whether the crime committed has been “child-like” or was it committed in an “adult frame of mind”. “If juvenile is sent to jail, they will be sent to a borstal until they are 21 years old, after which there will be a review,” she added.
Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said when the law was first enacted by the Rajiv Gandhi government, the age was 16.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.