SC rejects PIL to treat minors committing serious crimes as adults

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a PIL seeking to try juveniles as adults in cases of murder and rape. Dismissing the petition, the court said there would be no change in the existing Juvenile Justice Act that protects juveniles and those below the age of 18 will continue to be treated as a juvenile. A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said that interference in Juvenile Justice Act is not necessary and dismissed a batch of PILs which were filed in the aftermath of the December 16 brutal gangrape and murder case in which a minor was also allegedly involved. “We uphold the provisions of the Act… Interference in the law is not necessary,” the bench said while reading out operative part of its judgement. [caption id=“attachment_962269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Supreme Court of India. Reuters[/caption] The petitioners had said that the mental maturity of the criminal should be taken into account while giving him the benefit of the juvenile act. “Most of the brutal crimes committed by juveniles are premeditated and it shows mental maturity”, the PIL said. The petitioners also provided the court data to suggest that most of the brutal crimes committed by juveniles are by those in the age group of 15 to 18 years. The PIL was filed following the brutal 16 December Delhi gangrape of a student where one of the accused was 17 at the time of the incident. The decision to try him in a juvenile court and not treat him as an adult, sparked off a massive debate about juvenile age and serious crime. The PILs in the apex court was opposed by various child activists, including former Chairman of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) Amod Kanth. The juvenile justice board which has finished hearing arguments in relation to the Delhi gangrape case, has reserved its order on the 16 December Delhi gangrape to 25 July.