Juvenile Justice Act ''Inadequate'', "Gives Free Hand'' To Delinquents To Commit Heinous Offences: Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court also said that this Juvenile Justice Act gives a "free hand" to the delinquents under the age of 16 years to commit heinous offences.

Denying bail to a boy, who is accused of raping a girl, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has termed the Juvenile Justice Act as "totally inadequate and ill-equipped" to deal with such cases, and asked how many more Nirbhayas' (rape victims') sacrifices are required to shake the "conscious" of the country's lawmakers. It also said that this Act gives a "free hand" to the delinquents under the age of 16 years to commit heinous offences. The bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar made the observations while denying bail to the minor accused while hearing the case on June 15. The court order was posted on June 25, a government panel lawyer Poorva Mahajan said on Friday. "As a parting note, this court is also at pains to observe that the Legislature has still not learnt any lesson from the Nirbhaya case of Delhi. As the age of a child is still kept below 16 years in heinous offences under section 15 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, giving a free hand to the delinquents under the age of 16 years to commit heinous offences," the court said.