Calls to Lower Age Bar in India

"The trial of five men over the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman has begun at a specially convened fast-track court in New Delhi. If convicted, the men could face the death penalty. The sixth suspect, who is thought to be 17, is expected to b"

The trial of five men over the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman has begun at a specially convened fast-track court in New Delhi.

If convicted, the men could face the death penalty.

The sixth suspect, who is thought to be 17, is expected to be tried by a juvenile court – he’s too young to be tried under criminal law.

Many are calling for changes to the existing Juvenile Law.

For the last month, the area of Jantar Mantar has been occupied by protesters demanding justice for the victim of the brutal gang-rape in Delhi.

This time, a group of people are wearing black headbands and holding banners reading “Hang the rapist”.

30-year old civil engineer Renuka is one of them.

“This incident has woken us all up and we can’t slip back into a slumber again. We know our rights and it is a fight to reclaim those rights. Our safety is something that should have been granted to us without asking because it’s the government’s duty. But the government is still asleep, they don’t care at all. We have to keep up this fight in order to ensure a safe future for our children. They should not suffer the violence we have been subjected to.”

The trial of five of the six accused in the case has begun in a special fast-track court in New Delhi.

They are facing charges of kidnapping, rape and murder of the 23-year old victim.

One of the accused is a minor, under 18 years old, and he’s now being examined by the Juvenile Justice Board.

KTS Tulsi is a senior Supreme Court Lawyer.

“A person under 18 years old cannot be punished by a court of law. He can’t be put in prison; he can’t even be presented in a court. The discretion to decide his guilt or innocence and the degree of punishment has been left to the Juvenile Justice Board. The punishment can be suggested only if he is more than 17 years old. The minimum punishment would be 2 years. The maximum can’t be more than 3 years and that would be in a juvenile home.”

But many like Mohammad Faizan can’t accept this.

“The victim had told her mother that it was this minor that inserted an iron rod into her rupturing her intestines. And when she screamed with pain he pushed it further in saying: “Die, you bitch”. He is not a minor, he is a monster. He should be punished in public. They are adults when they rape but when it comes to punishment they become minors. It’s all bullshit; they should all be tried and hanged together.
 
The issue has sparked a heated debated across the country, with many suggesting changes to the Juvenile Law to lower the age of a minor from 18 to 16 years.

Jayanti Ranganathan is a senior feature editor with the Hindi News Daily, The Hindustan.

“A crime is a crime and it must be looked at that way. And we can’t ignore the fact that children are maturing much faster these days. Earlier we would look for the signs of puberty after the age of 13 but these days it is 10-11 or in many cases even nine years. So the circumstances have changed and today if a 15-year old is committing a crime he knows very well what he is doing and must face the consequences.”
 
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the crime rate among children between the ages of 16 and 18 has increased dramatically in the last decade.

The Joint Commisioner of Delhi Police, Tejender Luthra, says the police are in favor of lowering the age bar.
 
“From 2000 to 2011, there has been a 4 % increase in the number of murders committed by Juveniles. And there has been more than a 5% increase in rape cases committed by juveniles. So what we are seeing is an increase in the crime rate in this group and particularly an increase in heinous crimes like rape and murder which is a serious concern, and secondly the facts of this case which have shaken us all. We think there are compelling reasons to change our Juvenile Justice Law.”
 
But child rights activists say this would be a regressive move because India increased the age bar to 18 years just a few years ago.

Atiya Bose is Director of Angan, an NGO working with children.

“Scientific evidence now actually shows that children in that age group, the very age group that we are trying to exclude from the Act, are most vulnerable to criminal behavior because of the way the adolescent brain develops, because of the way the adolescents seek thrill seeking and is unable to have a very good risk assessment and more susceptible to peer pressure. Children between 16 and 18 are at the height of that arouse ability. It backs up why the UNCRC set the age at 18. It wasn’t a number that was pulled out of a magician’s hat. It was a number that was considered and it had a lot of research into it and now we find scientific research backing that up.“

The Indian human rights group, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, says the changes would only create more young criminals.

Kavita Shrivastav is a member of the group.
 
“The law is very clear that it is circumstances that lead children to commit such crimes, it is not innate in them. It is circumstances and if the circumstances are changed and then we try and work with those children, the challenge is with us as a society. I think we need more educational and psychological inputs, the important thing is that we work with this boy rather condemn for life this boy or send him to gallows, please don’t condemn children, we are brutalizing them even more.”

Some are advocating a middle path – that an exception should be made regarding minimum age for cases involving rape and murder.

Countries like the UK and France, who have also signed the UN Convention on Child Rights, have made such exceptions. Juveniles committing heinous crimes are tried in normal courts.

But psychiatrists like Pawan Verma say the solution lies within society.

“What should make people angry is that we are a society that is becoming intolerant, where violence is rising, violence is rising within our homes. The process of juvenile justice has to be focused on the individual and not on retribution or revenge. It has to restore the person and the society to a place of safety, to a place where violence decreases and does not exist. It might be an ideal but don’t change the process just because one person must 17 and half years of age.”
 

• India
• Juvenile Law
• Rape
• eng
• India gang rape
• India rape law