Does India Need To Change Its Juvenile Law?

The other five suspects are charged with murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Now the case has taken an unlikely turn with the decision of JJB. Even though the justice system has fast tracked the case and is struggling with it, the country is expecting the most strict and severe punishment for the rapists.

The case has also highlighted the increasing number of juvenile offenders in India. As recorded that young Indians are migrating to the cities in large number, which has created a huge social disconnect and has intensified the gap between haves and have-nots, as informed by Bharti Ali, co-director of New Delhi's Haq Center for Child Rights. She said, “The stark contradictions are right around them and very disturbing,” as reported by LA Times.

Juvenile crime has increased due to poor education, weak social services and persistent unemployment. As per the National Crime Records Bureau over 33,000 minors were arrested nationwide for serious crimes in 2011, the highest recorded number in the country in a decade. Over 1,400 cases of rape by juveniles were reported in 2011, opposed to 400 in 2001.

Shweta Kapoor, an attorney who practices before the Supreme Court filed a public-interest petition arguing that juvenile laws should be rewritten and the alleged juvenile suspect be charged as an adult based on his mental rather than physical age.

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