EDITORIALS

Economic & Political Weekly EPW august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31

9
T
he public rage following the 16 December 2012 gang rape
in Delhi, where a juvenile was among the ve accused,
has led to demands that minors 16 years and above,
accused of serious crimes, should be tried as adults. This found
strong resonance in the media and many political parties. While
the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had tilted
towards such public opinion, the present Minister of Women
and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, has incorporated this
demand in the nal draft of the bill to amend the Juvenile Jus-
tice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. While there
are some other welcome proposals in the draft bill, the one to
empower the Juvenile Justice Board to decide on whether juve-
niles involved in serious crimes should be sent to an observation
home or tried in a regular court smacks more of retribution
than reformation or rehabilitation.
This proposal pertains to children between 16 and 18 years
accused of crimes under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder),
326A (acid attack), 376 (rape and sexual assault), 376A (rape
resulting in death or vegetative state) and 376D (intercourse by
management or staff of an institution). The minister cited the
police as saying that half of the crimes are committed by
16-year-olds who know the Juvenile Justice Act, thereby imply-
ing that these accused are aware that they will get off lightly.
Just how the police have arrived at this gure and which cate-
gory of crimes is referred to is not clear.
Moreover, it is in the nature of mainstream media coverage to
hone in on crimes of a similar nature once a particularly brutal or
heinous one has led to public anguish and political upheaval. While
media attention on crimes and their causes is welcome, the tone of
most reporting rarely helps in a dispassionate discussion of the
causes of such crime. Rather it furthers panic and spreads the im-
pression that society is being subsumed by crime and brutal crimi-
nals. The more strident the voicing of popular prejudices and de-
mands of an eye-for-an-eye, the wider the coverage. Politicians too
are fearful of going against public opinion and prefer to fall in line.
Activists and organisations working with children in conict
with the law point out that in the last three years, going by the
National Crime Records Bureau, crimes by juveniles range between
1% and 1.2% of the total number of crimes, with more than 60% of
juvenile crime linked to theft. The assumption (as expressed by
the minister and shared by many) that bringing the 16-year-olds
for premeditated murder, rape...into the purview of the adult
world... will scare them, is again unfounded speculation. In
fact, a number of studies after the United States began getting
tough on juvenile offenders from the 1980s onwards show that
juveniles incarcerated with adult criminals often get more hard-
ened and inured to a deviant way of life.
Among the many urgent aspects of juvenile justice reform is
the need to focus on the abysmal state of our remand homes in
terms of their physical condition as well as the attitude of the
staff. The second is the attitude of the police towards juvenile
offenders which necessarily affects investigation. The draft
bills proposal to have the district magistrate as the chief of the
child welfare committee has also met with condemnation from
child rights activists who point out that given his workload, this is
an unrealistic expectation. Presently, a member of civil society
is chosen by the state government to head this body.
It is clear from the ministrys response to the feedback it asked
for on the draft bill that it is going by popular perception. The
media quoted a ministry ofcial as saying that different sections
of society are in favour of the changes and only some NGOs (non-
governmental organisations) had issues. The draft bill puts
humungous responsibility on the board to ensure that each case is
examined meticulously before it is transferred to a regular court.
Much will of course depend on how this responsibility is fullled.
Popular perception, especially where there is a great emotive
dimension, looks upon the dissenters as weak minded do-
gooders. True leadership does not seek to pacify popular out-
rage as much as to work towards patient (even unpopular) and
painstaking resolution.
Juvenile Public Rage
The law should not be changed to pander to mediatised public panics.