In India there was no pan India Act to govern children, and some states had their own enactments, like the Madras Children Act, 1920. The Union had also enacted the Children Act of 1960 but this was only applicable to Union Territories and not the States. Therefore, this Court in Sheela Barse(II) and others vs. Union of India and others, observed as follows:
“4. We have by our order dated August 5, 1986 called upon the State Governments to bring into force and to implement intensely the provision of the Children’s Acts enacted in the Various States. But we would suggest that instead of each State having its own Children’s Act different in procedure and content from the Children’s Act in other States, it would be desirable if the Central Government initiates Parliamentary Legislation on the subject, so that there is complete uniformity in regard to the various provisions relating to children in the entire territory of the Country….”
It would be proper to mention that these observations were made in the context of developments happening internationally in the field of Child Rights. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice on 29th November, 1985.These Rules are commonly referred to as the Beijing Rules.
Clause 4.1 of the Rules reads as follows: ¬
“4.1 In those legal systems recognizing the concept of the age of criminal responsibility for juveniles, the beginning of that age shall not be fixed as too low an age level, bearing in mind the facts of emotional, mental and intellectual maturity.” As is apparent, the Rules did not fix any specified age and left it to each country to frame their domestic laws, keeping in view the various relevant doctrines.
After the adoption of the Beijing Rules, India enacted the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986. In this Act, the Juvenile was defined under Section 2(h) to mean a boy who has not attained the age of 16 years or a girl who has not attained the age of 18 years. Such a juvenile was entitled to various protections and these protections were uniform irrespective of the nature of the crime committed.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child, (CRC) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20th November, 1989, and this Convention came itno force on 2nd September, 1990. Under Article 1 of the CRC a child was defined as every human being below the age of 18 years. However, if the domestic law provided that the child attained majority below the age of 18 years, then that would be treated to be the age till which the child would remain a juvenile. Discretion was left to the individual countries to fix the age of juvenility under the domestic law.
The next development was the enactment of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 which repealed the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986. Under the Act of 2000 a juvenile or child was defined to mean a person who had not completed 18 years of age. Even a juvenile in conflict with law was defined to mean a juvenile who was alleged to have committed an offence. Since there was no clarity with regard to the date on which the age was to be determined, the definition of juvenile in conflict with law was amended and the juvenile in conflict with law has been defined to mean a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence and has not completed 18th year of age as on the day of commission of the offence.
An unfortunate incident of rape and murder of a young girl (given the identity ‘Nirbhaya’) took place in Delhi in December 2012. One of the persons involved in the crime was a juvenile, aged 17 and half years. This led to a call from society to re¬visit the law and some sections of society felt that the word ‘juvenile’ had been given a very wide meaning and juveniles have been dealt with leniently. Honourable Supreme Court held that the decision as to who should be treated as juvenile is a decision for the Legislature to take and Courts cannot enter into this arena.
Thereafter, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 was enacted. For the first time, this act made a departure from the earlier Acts. This is an act to consolidate and amend the law relating to children alleged and found to be in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection by catering to their basic needs through proper care, protection, development, treatment, social re-integration, by adopting a child-friendly approach in the adjudication and disposal of matters in the best interest of children and for their rehabilitation through processes provided, and institutions and bodies established.
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