Juvenile Justice
Ashok Priyadarshi
Today the world''s opinion is to give equal
rights to both male and female children irrespective of their sex so as the juvenile is brought out from the cover of neglect and injustice. The exploitation, which a child has to face in every work of life, have compelled the members of the United
Nations to come out with the Convention On The Right Of The Child. The Convention Of The Right Of The Child was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in the year 1989. The member nations have signed it with a promise to make laws or make changes in the existing laws so as the Articles of the Convention are enforced and the Child in each member nation gets his or her right in accordance to the Convention. Further the United Nations has provided the Radah Guidelines and the Beijing Rules for the implementation of The Convention Of The Right Of The Child in the member nations. The right of the child is to be extended to the child in every aspect so as the childhood is not lost or the child is not exploited and abused . The Indian Parliament in the year 1986 in light of the Supreme Court judgement and its commitment enacted the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, for care, protection, maintenance, welfare, training , education and rehabilitation of the
neglected and delinquent
juveniles of India. The enforcement of this law repealed all existing laws of the country dealing with the delinquent and the neglected juveniles. Further replaced it with the Juvenile Justice ( Care And Protection of children) Act,2006 and more changes have been made in the year 2006. Under the Juvenile Justice law both male and female up to the age of 18 is a juvenile In this context, the proposed legislation aims at achieving the following objectives :- (i) to lay down a uniform legal framework for juvenile justice in the country so as to ensure that no child under any circumstances is lodged in jail or police lock-up. This is being ensured by establishing Juvenile Welfare Boards and Juvenile Courts; (ii) to provide for a specialized approach towards the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency in its full range in keeping with the developmental needs of the child found in any situation of social maladjustment; (iii) to spell out the machinery and infrastructure required for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of various categories of children coming within the purview of the juvenile justice system. This is proposed to be achieved by establishing observation homes, juvenile homes for neglected juveniles and special homes for delinquent juveniles; (iv) to establish norms and standards for the administration of juvenile justice in terms of investigation and prosecution, adjudication and disposition, and care, treatment and rehabilitation; (v) to develop appropriate linkages and co-ordination between the formal system of juvenile justice and voluntary agencies engaged in the welfare of neglected or socially maladjusted children and to specifically define the areas of their responsibilities and roles; (vi) to constitute special offences in relation to juveniles and provide fopunishments therefore ; (vii) to bring the operation of the juvenile justice system in the country in conformity with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rule for the Administration of Juvenile Justice. The whole object of the Act is to provide for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of neglected delinquent juveniles. It is a beneficial legislation aimed at to make available the benefit of the Act to the neglected or delinquent juveniles. It is settled law that the interpretation of the Statute of beneficial legislation must be to advance the cause of legislation to the benefit for whom it is made and not to frustrate the intendment of the legislation. The children involved in a crime are to be lodged in the Homes established under the law and not to be kept in jails and in transit they are not to be hand cuffed. Bail should be granted to them on the surety of the parents and it can only be refused only ,if there is a fear that the child will be involved in the same kind of crimes again. That the Homes are to serve as model homes , where proper vocational training is to be given to the child lodged in it. The facilities given in the Homes should be equal to a "A" class prison as provided under the Jail Manuals and the detention in homes should not be more than 3 years or till the child ceases to be a juvenile. The whole intention of the law is to protect the children from becoming immune to criminality and make then useful citizens of the nation.