BRUTAL JUVENILES
The Lok Sabha recently passed amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act, as suggested by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. One very significant amendment is to treat juvenile offenders in the 16-18 age group committing heinous crimes, as adults and penalise them under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It must be noted that IPC is an archaic colonial code the objective of which was not justice but to force people to mend their ways. Therefore, we must revisit the IPC and other such laws and reflect on them, time and again. While we do see the need for this amendment, we hope for its effective and meaningful implementation, with not just a blind follow up of the law which is limiting and unjust to the people of the society.
Incarceration as a method to treat juveniles would be an unethical and non-corrective measure. Since the nature of the same is not to develop child into a better person but only provides a negative environment to juveniles.
However, we must understand that women are increasingly facing brutal attacks from not just the ‘adults’, but from a mushrooming number of ‘children’ from the age group of 14-17 years. Delhi Police data of 2014 showed that 6 juveniles were committing offences each day. Out of total registered crime committed by juveniles,
111 were of heinous nature. NCRB data of 2013 shows that out of the 43,506 registered crimes by the minors, 28, 830 involved minors in the age group of 16-18 years. NCRB data additionally reveals that there was an alarming increase of 143 percent in rapes by juveniles from the year 2002 to 2012. This gruesome reality has to be counterattacked by some corrective measure in the society which cannot just attack the offenders but the roots in society.
In the United States, when a juvenile of a certain age commits a serious crime or violent crime, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court is waived and transferred to adult courts. Similarly in U.K, they have a special type of ‘Youth Court’ which issue community sentences, youth detention and rehabilitation programs.
There is a dire need for reform in our judicial system and for laws which must meticulously investigate each and every case. Such cases must be reviewed by a team of experts set up by the Juvenile Justice Board. The team should include psychologists, lawyers, and civil society groups who can provide a holistic view of the case by ascertaining different dimensions within it and help in bringing justice to the victim. There are corrective centres for juveniles in many countries that are largely housed separately from the serious crime adult offenders and provide education to overhaul their mindset and better their future. It is also vital to not only look at the figure of the juvenile’s age but the nature of the crime and the intent with which he carries out an attack on the women. It should be reckoned that the juvenile was in full control and knew of the repercussions of the crime.
We do realise that corporal punishment is not a corrective measure but we must also acknowledge the increasing brutality against women and girls, even by juveniles. We must remember that a brutal attack or even ogling at a girl in the public space emerges not from a juvenile’s mind but is a larger manifestation of the misogyny he witnessed in society and learned from it to survive in the environment.
The author is director, Centre for Social Research