JUVENILE DELINQUENCY OR SOCIAL MALINGNANCY


Posted On : December 11, 2021
NEED TO REVISIT JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT
Listen to this article

Table of Contents

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY OR SOCIAL MALIGNANCY

 

Scanning pages of our favourite Newspaper(s) and giving a brief glance to our mobile phones to keep ourselves abreast with the social media updates is nowadays our indispensable daily repertoire which influences our mood for the day and  also casts a subtle impact on the tempo of our routine activities.  While good news creates a sense of happiness and sort of euphoria, bad news however makes us sad, sombre , deeply cogitative and often plunging us into a sort of hysteria .It is a lamentable fact that besides broad coverage of  political activities mostly dominating the sundry incidents of  strikes, agitations, protests and staging walkouts from the parliament etc. the other thing that hogs the limelight and engages our attention these days is the news about criminal activities and their sickening reporting in our media. Hardly a day passes when the news about heinous crimes being committed by Juveniles doesn’t greet us in the mornings sending shock waves in the society making us to grumble about the deteriorating law & order situation in our country. Not long ago, just a few years ago national capital Delhi had witnessed a sordid episode of gang rape of a hapless girl which had shaken the conscience of the whole nation. The culprits involved a juvenile. The sad incident is marked by the courage and fortitude of the victim who later succumbed to the disgrace of the heinous crime after struggling for life& death for a couple of days. This entered into annals of our history as the story of a brave lady and government aptly christened this case as ‘NIRBHAYA’ case to provide inspiration to other girls. It was thought after this horrific incident the crime scenario would improve for the better and the crime graph would take a southward dip. But this was not to be, and there was on the contrary a surge of such heinous crimes mostly committed by the juveniles in our society. Recently there was a news that a juvenile was apprehended in Delhi for rape and murder of a domestic help. Then we came across yet another sad news the other day that a 17 year old youth chopped off his 19 year old sister’s head   with a sickle in Vaijapur , Maharashtra after she had eloped with a man whom he disliked. The buck unfortunately didn’t stop here and still continues to script a long sickening trail to our dismay and anguish.

India is perhaps the only country in the world which has the dubious distinction of having maximum number of laws to regulate the conduct of our society. It is the only country where almost all aspects of human behaviour i.e behaviour between human beings inter se, behaviour with animals(both domestic and wild),behaviour with nature and environment(Euphemistically known as fauna & flora)etc. are all sought to be governed by laws rather than through education or innate enlightenment arising out of our intrinsic worth or empirical wisdom which is the preserve of every egalitarian society. Even our fundamental choices & fancies are capped by laws. Should we study or not? Should we know something or not ? are all issues governed by prescribed laws such as right to education, right to information etc. One doesn’t know if it is a sign of development or our decadence when we have framed laws on such a subtle issue as to how to respect our aged parents and what consequence would befall on us in case of committing any willful breach or default. Thus there is a plethora of laws on virtually every aspect /subject of human behaviour and conduct. Ideally speaking this should be emblematic of an ideal and enlightened society free from all vices and standing on a high pedestal of culture and civilization worthy of emulation. But what we perceive in reality is contrary to what we conceive to be a virtuous and ideal situation.

It is difficult to say if this state of affairs is symptomatic of a healthy state of our society or an ailing state needing an urgent treatment. In common parlance a person dependent on a huge cache of medicines is considered to be ill or not keeping robust health . Though totally ruling out use/consumption of drugs & medicines ever in one’s life is also utopian wishful thinking defying logic given varying bodily needs& requirements with age, excess or superfluous use of anything howsoever good is also equally bad. This way we are not behaving in an educated way in real sense but domesticated like animals which definitely is not a good sign of a progressive society.

But what is dismaying is that in spite of a vast galore of laws created (nigh manufactured) at every drop of hat to regulate the conduct of the people, the social scenario of our country is far from being heartwarming or satisfactory. The situation is paradoxical. The more the laws are enacted the more there is surge in crimes and criminals roam freely undeterred in the society. What is all the more regrettable is that even law making bodies like parliament and legislative assemblies are thronged by persons with criminal antecedents. This is symptomatic of our overall social decadence rather than betterment.

While this general decadence is indeed a disturbing phenomenon engaging the attention of the whole nation, the recent spurt in cases of juvenile delinquency as briefly discussed above ,has however rung ALARM BELLS in our country and needs to be addressed in right earnest and promptitude to nip the malaise in the bud right at the threshold before it assumed graver magnitude in our society. We follow the dictum ‘CHILDREN OF TODAY ARE LEADERS OF TOMORROW’ and strive to provide all facilities for their proper growth and development in the hope that they would eventually turn out to be good citizens in their life. But in view of what we witness in the ascendancy in cases of juvenile delinquency from minor crimes of abuse, fights, theft to rape & murders occurring in our country, this appears to be pie in the sky at the moment. This suggests there is something radically wrong with our socio- legal dynamics.

The objective of this write up is not to paint a gloomy or despondent picture of our youths, but to present the emerging social matrix in a correct and informative perspective. It is not that our youth especially the juveniles are given to delinquent acts only and lack creative disposition or skills to their credit. In fact many children of the age group of12-17 years of age have done us proud in many in other areas of activities with a display of rare talent and genius. They have performed wonderfully well in many reality shows of Dance, Music, Drama, sports ,etc. earning all round applause and acclaim. They have performed equally well in certain good films as child artists and are not lagging behind in the academic field either. So, this could not be said that there has been only a down slide in the profile of the behaviour of our youths and only a fringe of youth population seems to be betrayed from the path of righteousness or virtue. But as the proverb goes ‘one dirty fish spoils the whole pond’, we have to be alert and circumspect about the growth of our youth lest they fall in bad company and move on to the other side of law.

There may be myriad reasons & causes for this apparent dichotomy visible in the behaviour of our youths. The baneful impact of cinema & T.V shows may be one of them. The constraints of both the parents being in job and not in a position to discharge their parental obligation in paying adequate attention to their children or the influence on children of their friends and peers may be other prominent reasons for such differential phenomenon in our society. It is however pertinent to observe that COGNITIVE ability and mentation level of present day children has tremendously changed and therefore the standard of reckoning their level of childhood acuity and  asperity as perceived earlier needs to be thoroughly revised in sync with the emerging changes in their behaviour. Too much of leniency shown to the children by ignoring their acts of malfeasance or shenanigans often breeds waywardness among them and gives rise to delinquency which ultimately assumes dangerous portents leading credulous children to indulge in anti social activities and drug consumers. Besides these social nuances other thing that adversely impacts the growth & outlook of the children is the legal protection accorded to them when the crime committed by them is not judged by the gravity of crime committed but in reference to his or her age . A youth is considered juvenile up to the age of 17 years and law prohibits granting severe punishment to a juvenile delinquent even he has committed a crime as serious as rape or murder and given a long rope to spare from the stigma of the crime as per law.

It is therefore high time that social scientists and legal jurists paid heed to this emerging social malignancy and revisited our relevant Acts such as JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT, EVIDENCE ACT etc . and made suitable amendments to streamline the situation to bring about necessary changes in the society or else we  would ourselves be responsible for spoiling our children and bringing society to dogs.

                                            

 

Written By:
Ravi Mathur

Ravi Mathur


Recommended Free Legal Advices
question markRegarding juvinile justice 1 Response(s)
Dear Client, Section 19 of THE JUVENILE JUSTICE (CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN) ACT, 2015 deals with the powers of the Children's Court. As per sub-section (1)(ii) of section 19 of the Act, after the receipt of the preliminary assessment from the Juvenile Justice Board under section 15 of the Act, the Children's Court may decide that there is no need for trial of the child as an adult and may conduct an inquiry as a Board and pass appropriate orders following the provisions of section 18 of the Act Sec 24 of the Act deals with the removal of disqualification on the findings of an offense. As per Sub-Section (2) of Sec.24, the Board shall make an order directing the Police, or the Children's Court to its registry that the relevant records of such conviction shall be destroyed after the expiry of the period of appeal or, as the case may be, a reasonable period as may be prescribed, Provided that in case of a heinous offense where the child is found to be in conflict with law under clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 19, the relevant records of conviction of such child shall be retained by the Children's Court. Given the above provision of the relevant Act, you may approach the Juvenile Justice Board or Children's Court through an Interlocutory Application(IA) praying for the deletion of records of conviction. In case your application deserves merit, the Court may allow your appeal and pass an order accordingly.
question markRegarding juvenile justice 1 Response(s)
Dear Client, In many jurisdictions, laws regarding juveniles are different from those for adults. If a 17-year-old spreads misinformation and causes defamation, the legal consequences would depend on the specific laws of the jurisdiction. Juveniles may be subject to the juvenile justice system, which typically focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Punishments may include counseling, community service, or other measures aimed at correcting behavior. If the misinformation and defamation are spread using the mobile number of an adult, both the juvenile and the adult may be held accountable. The adult could be implicated for allowing or facilitating the misuse of their mobile number, depending on the circumstances. It's essential to consult with legal authorities or seek advice from a legal professional familiar with local laws to understand the specific implications in the relevant jurisdiction. Thankyou
question markSocial anxiety disorder- a mental health disorder 1 Response(s)
Plz approach Government authorities in this regard
question markJuveniles 4 Response(s)
Hi, As per the decision the records of your criminal case would be removed and redacted. So, in future during police verification your previous records will not be available. It will be that you never committed that crime. Your records will be clean. If you like my answer, please rate me.
question markcharacter certificate and removing criminal records 4 Response(s)
Dear Client Has the Juvenile board cleared all the charges against you? If yes and there are no pending charges against you then the police is supposed to provide you the character certificate or else knock the door of Hon'ble High COurt.