SC dismisses PIL seeking lowering age of juvenile from 18 to16

The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking lowering of the age of juveniles from 18 to 16, saying the existing law was based on sound principles and the December 16 incident was "an aberration rather than the rule".
The apex court said the protection accorded to minor up to the age of 18 years under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act is based on sound principles and such legislation is required for the welfare and reformation of delinquent juvenile who are in conflict with law.
Referring to the December 16 gangrape case here in which one of the accused is a minor, a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said "it (the incident) was an aberration rather than the rule".

The Supreme Court bench rejected one of the PILs filed in the apex court which had sought examination of the constitutional validity of the provision defining juvenile in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which treats a person as a minor till he attains the age of 18 years.
"The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act is in tune with the provisions of the Constitution and the various Declarations and Conventions adopted by the world community represented by the United Nations," the bench, also comprising justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar said.
A clamour had been triggered by after the December 16 gangrape of the 23-year-old paramedic student in a moving bus here and one of the accused in the case was juvenile who was allegedly the most brutal. The juvenile faced trial in the Juvenile Justice Board.

"There is little doubt that the incident, which occurred on the night of December 16, 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.
"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 percent of the country's crime rate," it said.
In the wake of the nationwide outrage over the alleged involvement of the minor in the December 16 case, a batch of PILs was filed in the apex court challenging the Act and not giving protection to a minor involved in heinous crimes.