Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill: was passed by Indian Parliament on 28th July 2021.

Highlights:

• The amendment of the Act was taken up after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in a survey of children’s shelter homes in India found that over 7,600 children were living in poor living conditions with no access to basic amenities.
• The Bill seeks to amend the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Key Points:

• It enhanced role of DM & ADM for adoption and child care.
• The DMs have now been empowered to sign adoption orders under Section 61 of the Juvenile Justice Act thus making the process of adoption faster and more compliant with rules.

About Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children), Act, 2015:

• The Act offered provisions to allow trials of juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years as an adult who were found to be in conflict with the law, especially heinous crimes.
• The Act also offered provisions regarding adoption.
• The Act replaced the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956) and Guardians of the ward Act (1890) with a more universally accessible adoption law.
• The Act enabled smooth functioning of adoption procedures for orphans, surrendered, and abandoned children while making the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) the statutory body for adoption-related matters.

Offenses committed by juveniles:

Currently, the Act outlines three categories of offenses which are as follows:

1. Petty
2. Serious
3. Heinous

• Petty offenses are those offenses that allow imprisonment up to three years.
• Serious offenses are those offenses where, imprisonment is of three to seven years.
• Heinous Offences are those offenses that allow imprisonment of Minimum seven years.