Supreme Court refuses to lower juvenile age

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to lower the age bar for juveniles from 18 to 16 years, ruling that the involvement of a 17-year-old minor in a gang rape in Delhi last December was an aberration.

The gruesome assault that led to the death of the 23-year-old paramedical student had led to a public outcry that the bar should be lowered so as to keep the accused minor, one of the six alleged perpetrators of the crime, from getting away with just the maximum three-year stay in a juvenile or special home.

"There is little doubt that the incident, which occurred on the night of 16th December, 2012, was not only gruesome, but almost maniacal in its content, wherein one juvenile, whose role is yet to be established, was involved, but such an incident, in comparison to the vast number of crimes occurring in India, makes it an aberration rather than the rule," the Supreme Court said in a judgment on Wednesday, rejecting a clutch of petitions. "If what has come out from the reports of the Crimes Record Bureau, is true, then the number of crimes committed by juveniles comes to about 2% of the country's crime rate," the court said.

The three-member Supreme Court bench headed by the outgoing Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said it was convinced that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, as amended in 2006 was based on sound principles recognised internationally and in tune with the provisions of the Indian Constitution. The data available did not warrant any change in the existing provisions, the bench ruled.