Rajya Sabha passes the Juvenile Justice Bill

Ahead of passing the bill, CPI-M lawmaker Sitaram Yechury said a law should not be passed only on the basis of sentiments as the Left walked out over the issue of lowering of age. 

 

Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday made a strong pitch in the Rajya Sabha for the passage of the Bill.

"If the convict has reformed, then he will walk free otherwise he will be put in jail...The new bill will mandate regular review of juvenile convicts," she said and urged the upper house to approve the bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha.

Present in Parliament as the Rajya Sabha debates the Bill are Asha Devi and Badrinath, the parents of Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old medical student who was gang-raped and tortured by six men on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died in a Singapore hospital 13 days later.

Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad also supported the Bill. "Opinions about the age of juvenile is divided. We will have to keep in mind that the criminals can misuse juveniles," he said.

Opposing the present system of keeping juvenile culprits in homes, Azad said : " One thing is very important. for these culprits there should be a different setup for them. They shouldn’t be kept in the same cell with hardened criminals for the fear that they could turn out even worse than they were."

 Jyoti's parents have been leading a mass demand for  a change in the law. While Jyoti's other attackers have been sentenced to death, the youngest was released on Sunday after three years in a remand home. Now 20, he could not be tried in court for the brutal murder as he was a few months short of 18 at the time of the attack.

Asha Devi says she understands that a change in law will now not affect her case, but feels it is the least she can do for other women.