JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT AMENDMENT The government introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha on July 12, 2014 to amend the Juvenile Justice Act that will allow treating 16-18-year-olds as adults when involved in heinous crimes. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection Children) Bill 2014 was introduced by Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi. The amendment will empower Juvenile Justice Boards to take a call on whether to treat 16-18-year-olds as adults if they are involved in heinous crimes. Such juveniles may face a jail term, if convicted, but will not be awarded life terms or the death penalty. • The Bill would enable other changes in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, including bringing in more clarity in the role and procedures of statutory structures such as Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards, and strengthening punitive measures for offences committed against children. • New offences such as corporal punishment, ragging and using a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or smuggling any intoxicating liquor, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance and streamlining and strengthening measures for adoption, including providing statutory status to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) have also been added. • The amended law makes it mandatory for all child care institutions to get registered or pay a stringent penalty in case of non-compliance. Who is a Juvenile? A Juvenile or Child means a person who has not completed 18 years of age. Section-2 (k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 defines "Juvenile" or "Child" as a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age. What does the existing act lay down? The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2010 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on November 16,2010 by the then Minister of State Krishna Tirath for the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Bill amended the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill 2014 is still pending. It also fails to provide for procedural guarantees like right to counsel and right to speedy trial. It does not take into account the orders and directions of the Supreme Court and High Courts relating to determination of the age of the child. It empowers the Juvenile Justice Board to give a child in adoption; even though, it is the Child Welfare Committee that deals with children in need of care and protection. The Act is also silent on issues like child labour, primary education, sexual abuse, adoption, disabilities and health. With the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2000, India's juvenile justice legislation was brought in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and international standards, focusing on some of the key principles of juvenile justice .The UN CRC (Article-40.1) states that children who are accused of offences should be tried separately from adults "in a manner consistent with the child's sense of dignity and worth". This is further supported through international standards like the Beijing Rules and the Riyadh Guidelines laying out procedures for the administration of juvenile justice and prevention of juvenile delinquency. Other Countries' Stand United Kingdom Anybody who has attained the age of 17 is an adult. Separate 'youth court' without a jury tries people under 18. A person under 17 can be tried as an adult in a limited number of serious offences like sexual assault and child sex offences committed by children. When a youth offender is jointly charged with an adult, the charge is heard and tried by a regular court. USA Special juvenile courts to deal with under-18 delinquents. Around 20 States allow them to be tried and sentenced as adults to life imprisonment. In June, 2012, Supreme Court again barred mandatory life sentence without parole to juveniles. France Anyone under 18 can only be tried by special juvenile courts. A separate Juvenile Assize court tries serious offences, committed by minors aged 16-18 years. In 2002, a law was enacted to provide tougher criminal response to juvenile delinquency. Beijing Rules Rule-17 of the Beijing Rules, in turn, provides that the reaction shall be in proportion to the circumstances and the gravity of the offence as well as the circumstances and needs of the juvenile and the needs of society. Furthermore, personal liberty may be deprived if the juvenile is adjudicated guilty of a serious offence involving violence against another person or persistence in committing other serious offences. Unlike the UN Convention, the Beijing Rules do not fix 18 as the age of a juvenile. Instead, the Beijing Rules provide for rules applicable to persons between the age of 7 and 18. No country has a provision of death penalty for juveniles. The US discontinued it after 2005. The sentence in other countries is more than three years. Criticism Child rights and human rights activists have been opposing the demand for amendment in the Juvenile Justice Act on the ground that the law should not be amended to deal with a particular case. They forget that there have been a growing number of criminal cases in which juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 are involved. By arguing for such boys and girls, they are undermining the very purpose of the law. There is scientific evidence that juveniles now reach maturity earlier than was the case a few decades ago. There is considerable merit in the argument when someone says that if a person can commit rape, he can also be punished for rape. Even in many Western countries juveniles accused of rape and murder are not shown any leniency if they have crossed the age of 16. What matters is the level of maturity of the person concerned. By leaving the decision to the Juvenile Justice Board, which will go into a whole gamut of issues like the person's maturity level and whether the crime was premeditated or not, the government has tried to strike a balance. By ensuring such persons will not be given death penalty or life sentence, the government has also conceded the point that they need to be treated differently. What is the need to amend the existing law? Government's decision to amend the Juvenile Justice Act to deal strongly with those who commit heinous acts like rape and murder has a lot to commend itself. The proposed amendment in the law will allow the Juvenile Justice Board hearing such cases to decide whether an accused who is above 16 years should be tried by a regular court or by the Board itself. The amendment might have been necessitated by the large-scale public outrage over the mild punishment given to a juvenile accused in the December, 2012 gang-rape case in Delhi and the Shakti Mills gangrape cases. Also, all five accused who were involved in the broad day light killing of a 19-year-old boy in Madangir area in south east Delhi recently, were all juveniles! Glasgow Commonwealth Games and India The 2014 Commonwealth Games (officially the XX Commonwealth Games} were held in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23-August 3, 2014. This year's motto was "Bring it on". It was the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland with around 4950 athletes from 71 different nations and territories competing in 18 different sports, outranking the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. England finished top of the medals tally for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games, also held in Scotland. Kiribati also won its first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games, a gold in the 105 kg men's weightlifting competition. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 England 58 59 57 174 2 Australia 49 42 46 137 3 Canada 32 16 34 82 4 Scotland 19 15 19 53 5 India 15 30 19 64 6 New Zealand 14 14 17 45 7 South Africa 13 10 17 40 8 Nigeria 11 11 14 36 9 Kenya 10 10 5 25 10 Jamaica 10 4 8 22 Total 261 261 302 824 The official logo for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was unveiled on Commonwealth Day, 8 March 2010. Designed by Marque Creative, it was inspired by three factors - time, data and measurement. Its rings are proportioned to represent the 20 th Commonwealth Games, across 18 sports, over 11 days in 1 city. An animated version of the logo has also been produced. Clyde, an anthropomorphic thistle named after the river which flows through the centre of Glasgow, was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The mascot was designed by Beth Gilmou. A total of 18 sports and 261 medal events were contested at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. A record 22 para- sport events were contested in five different sports (athletics, cycling, lawn bowls, swimming and weightlifting) and para track cycling was held for the very first time. India at CWG India has competed in fourteen of the eighteen previous Commonwealth Games; starting at the second Games in 1934, and hosted the Games once. India ended its Glasgow Commonwealth Games campaign with a total of 64 medals (15 Golds, 30 Silvers, 19 Bronzes). India's first ever Commonwealth medal was won by Rashid Anwar who won a bronze in welterweight category of wrestling in British Empire Games in 1934. Gold Earners for India in Glasgow CWG Name Event Sanjita Khumukchan Men’s Weightlifting (48 kg) Sukhen Dey Men’s Weightlifting (56 kg) Abhinav Bindra Men’s Shooting (10 metre air rifle) Apurvi Chandela Women’s Shooting (10 metre air rifle) Rahi Sarnobat Women’s Shooting (25 metre pistol) Sathish Sivalingam Men’s Weightlifting (77 kg) Jitu Rai Men’s Shooting (50 metre pistol) Amit Kumar Men’s Wrestling (57 kg) Vinesh Phogal Women’s Wrestling (48 kg) Sushil Kumar Men’s Wrestling (74 kg) Babita Kumari Women’s Wrestling (55 kg) Yogeshwar Dutt Men’s Wrestling (65 Kg) Vikas Gowda Men’s Discus Throw Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Women’s Double Squash Kashyap Parupalli Men’s Singles Badminton Indians who Created History Parupalli Kashyap clinched a gold medal in men's badminton (singles) event defeating Derek Wong (Singapore) in the final.