SC notice to centre over Juvenile Justice Act

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought the government’s views on a plea by Nirbhaya’s parents to permit courts in certain cases to examine the mental maturity of a juvenile offender to decide whether he should be treated like an adult offender. Currently the Juvenile Justice Act forbids those under 18 from being tried as adult offenders under the Indian Penal Code ( IPC).

They can only be tried as juveniles and sent to a juvenile home as was one of the accused who raped and killed Nirbhaya, but was days short of turning 18. He was sent for three years to a correctional home for the crime.

Her parents moved the top court on Friday seeking a change in the law to permit him to be tried under the normal law for the heinous crime he committed.

A bench, comprising Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde, said that it would examine the issue of whether it should be left to courts to test a juvenile offender’s mental maturity and decide how he should be treated.