JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT 2000

This article was written by Neeti Rana a student of Law College ,Uttaranchal University, Dehradun.

The Juvenile Justice Act 2000 has various provisions that indicate the positive approach towards child rather than punitive approach. Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 was passed replacing the Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 in order to update with international development such as adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations in 1989[1], The convention on the Rights of the Child[2] emphasizes social reintegration of child victims, to the extent possible, without resorting to judicial proceedings.

Section 2(1) of the Act defines “juvenile in conflict with law” as a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence. In the 2000 Act, it is for the first time that the term “child in conflict with law” has been used. It is a positive way of describing the child and aims at bringing an attitudinal change amongst the functionaries of the Juvenile Justice System in particular and the whole society in general.

Section 15 of the Juvenile Act deals with orders that pass regarding juveniles and gives list of orders that may be passed and where there is no scope for imprisonment. The juvenile is sent home after the advice or admonition inquiry and counselling to the parent or the guardian and the juvenile.[3] The juvenile may also be directed to participate in group counselling and similar activities. Others orders that may be passed against the juvenile include performance of community service, payment of fine by the parent of the juvenile or the juvenile himself, if he is over fourteen years of age and earns money and release on probation of good conduct. Juvenile may also sent to a special home.[4]

 Section 16 of the Act deals with orders passes against juvenile. The section specifies that no juvenile in conflict with law shall be sentences to death or life imprisonment, or committed to prison in default of payment of fine or in default of furnishing security.

 Section 21 specifies the bars disclosure of the name, address or school or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of the juvenile in conflict with law in any newspaper, magazine, newssheet or visual media. The publication may only be allowed if such disclosure is in the interest of the child. This provision includes the save child in conflict with law from the stigma attached with the proceedings. [5]

Section 22 of the act makes a departure from the conventional criminal law position and mandates that no proceeding shall be instituted in respect of the juvenile for reason of escape from a special home or an observation home or from the care of a person under whom he was placed under the Act.

The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 takes a very positive view towards juveniles in conflict with law and follows a policy which is non punitive but is reformative in nature. The proceeding is in respect of a juvenile in conflict with law is non-criminal in nature. The proceedings are done in very informal. Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 is a progressive piece of legislation and is made for the best interest of child.

In Sheela Barse V. Union of India,[6] The Supreme Court of India speaking through Honbl’e Ranganath Mishra J.observed; “If a child is a national asset, it is the duty of the State to look after the child with a view to ensuring full development of its personality. That is why all the statutes dealing with children provide that a child shall not be kept in jail. Even apart from this statutory prescription, it is elementary that a jail is hardly a place where a child should be kept. There can be no doubt that incarceration in jail would have the effect of dwarfing the development of the child, exposing him to baneful influences, coarsening his conscience and alienating him from the society. It is the atmosphere of the jail which has highly injurious effects on the mind of the child, estranging him from the society and breeding in him aversion bordering on hatred against a system which keeps him in jail.”[7]

In Gaurav Jain V. Union of India[8], the Supreme Court of India rightly observed: “An institution established or certified by a State Government under Section 9 of the Juvenile Justice Act[9] is a juvenile Home. The object of the Act is not to punish the juvenile but to rehabilitate him or her, be it a delinquent juvenile[10] or a neglected juvenile.

CONCLUSION

The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 takes a very positive view towards juveniles in conflict with law and follows a policy which is non punitive but is reformative in nature. The proceeding is in respect of a juvenile in conflict with law is non-criminal in nature. The proceedings are done in very informal. Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 is a progressive piece of legislation and is made for the best interest of child.

[1] The Government of India has ratified the Convention on the 11.12.1992
[2] After the Declaration, 113 nations, by consensus, promulgated the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action where the rights of child in general and girl child in particular, received worldwide recognition. It was resolved that the member States should integrate the Convention on Rights of the Child into their national action plan.
[3]See Section 15(1)(a), the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000

[4] “Special home” is defined under Section 2(v) of the Act as an institution established by a State Government or by a voluntary organization and certified by that Government.
[5] See Section 21(2), The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000

[6] AIR 1986 SC 1773
[7] Ibid, p-1777, para-10

[8] (1997) 8 SCC 114
[9] The decision was given under Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 which is the Act preceding the present Juvenile Justice Act of 2000

[10] The concept of ‘delinquent juvenile’ as found under 1986 Act has been replaced with the concept of    child in conflict with law’ in the present Act following a positive approach.