If age wasn’t lowered, youth will turn arrogant: Renuka K.R., Director, Centre for Women Development and Research
The decision to let the juvenile accused go scot free in the Nirbhaya case left us in shock especially because it was such a high profile case that shattered the entire nation.
What kind of an example are we setting to the rest of the world and also other youngsters in our society. We’re essentially telling them that as long as they are below the age of 18 , they can rape a woman and after a few years of rehabilitation they will walk free.
We simply cannot sit back and accept the fact that these criminals will not face punishment. Therefore, the decision to lower the age for the Juvenile Justice law is something I welcome.
If the age wasn’t lowered, youngsters in our society would develop arrogance and they might think that a small robbery is the same as raping a woman. Both would seem to have the same kind of punishment. It is sad that even for a case that continues to grab headlines, still the court decided to let the accused walk away to freedom.
So many women’s groups had to go on protest for the law to be changed and only then some action took place. We are not demanding that the accused be hanged, but they should know they have committed a crime.
Also, these days children mature much earlier on than in the previous decades. They have access to vulgar videos online, media teaches them nothing respectful either. Children are more exposed and understand how things are, so we cannot continue to treat these criminals as children.
The government has said education is essential for children below 14, so for as that is the age of a child. Abroad, children are expected to leave home at the age of 16 and figure out their lives and to take all their decisions.
Most men don’t even see it as a crime. So, apart from the Juvenile Justice law, what this society really needs is a complete reformation. Sex education is such an important part of changing this society. If we are not going to teach children the basics of human life, how are they going to learn how to respect another human life?
(As told to Johanna Deeksha)
Proper implementation of law will make difference: A. Narayanan, Director, Changeindia (a centre for advocacy and research)
There is a lot of euphoria about the passage of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015 in Rajya Sabha but several hurdles remain in its implementation.
The Rajya Sabha passed the new Juvenile Justice bill replacing the 2000 Act, which was in force for 15 years, but was not implemented properly. It suffered because judges, statutory officers and police failed to understand the spirit of the law.
The new JJ bill lowered the age of a legally defined juvenile from 18 to 16 in case of heinous crimes and they can be tried as adults. The bill says in case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a child, who has completed or is above the age of 16, the Juvenile Justice Board should conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to the child’s mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which it allegedly committed the offence, and may pass an order accordingly.
Will there be experts in the board who will really be able to understand what this child went through and decide whether it has to be sent to jail or it has to be tried as an adult or as a juvenile?
The Board members are ill-equipped to evaluate mental age of a child. Even for people suffering from mental illness, there is a shortage of counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists to treat them.
When the situation remains so, how will the JJ Board be able to determine the mental age of the child? There is a lot of noise being created over the passage of the JJ bill but the implementation of its provision remains to be seen. After the Nirbhaya rape incident, the government created a Nirbhaya fund. It has a corpus of Rs 3,000 crore.
The sum remains unspent at a time when victims of sexual abuse fail to get help from government. Juvenile homes have become a horror house or punishment prison for children. People in the homes are not skilled enough to reform the children.
There is lot to be done on how to transform the children in the home into a better person. Let us not make a hue and cry about the passage of the bill in the Parliament.
Only its proper implementation makes the difference.
(As told to G. Jagannath)
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
