Lok Sabha passes bill allowing children above 16 to be tried as adults
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014, which will next be taken up in the Rajya Sabha, says that whether an accused between 16 and 18 years should be tried as an adult will be decided by a Juvenile Justice Board.
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said the amendment bill seeks to streamline adoption procedures for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children, and offers rehabilitation for children who need it. It clearly defines offences as petty, serious and heinous.
During the debate in the Lok Sabha, former Union minister Shashi Tharoor was among the members who expressed concern, deviating from his Congress party's line.
"A majority of children in conflict with law come from illiterate and poor families. These are the ones you are trying to punish instead of giving them education," he said pointing out that the changes violate international laws that require a child accused of an offence to be treated differently from an adult.
Changes to the law were prompted by the massive outrage after the youngest convict in the gruesome 2012 gang-rape and murder case was tried in a juvenile court and sentenced to three years in a reform home.
The convict was just a few months short of 18 when he and five others gang-raped and tortured a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern on a moving bus in Delhi. The girl later died from her injuries.
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