Lower juvenile age in rape cases: BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, who heads a parliamentary panel, is believed to have asked the home and law ministries to examine if the cut off age for juveniles could be made 16 in cases relating to crime against women. The suggestion comes amid the debate over the definition of juvenile, following the Delhi gang-rape case.

The standing committee on home is discussing the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, introduced in Lok Sabha in December and recommendations of the Justice JS Verma to strengthen laws on violence against women. The bill was already under the committee's consideration when the government promulgated the ordinance last week. The panel will submit the report in the first half of budget session, a source told ET.

Naidu is believed to have asked home and law secretaries to see if the age of a juvenile can be lowered in specific instances of crime against women, the source said. At present, a person is a minor till 18. The panel has received representations and mails from various organisations and people demanding that the age question be reviewed, the source said.

The gang-rape had opened a debate on the definition of a juvenile. One of the six accused in the rape was under 18, raising questions if the act could be considered as that committed by a minor. But despite the clamour to reduce the age, the Verma panel vetoed the demand.

After the Centre promulgated the ordinance, finance minister P Chidambaram had said the issue of reducing the age would be dealt by MHA and the women and child welfare ministry in due course.

The SC has agreed to look into the validity of certain sections of the act under which a person under 18 cannot be jailed even if he/she were to commit a heinous crime. Several PILs have been filed in the Delhi HC and in SC to reduce the age. The SC has agreed to examine one such plea on whether there was a need to review the definition of a minor in the JJ Act.