Child and heinious offences

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued guidelines for the first time for conducting “preliminary assessment’’ to determine whether a child should be treated as a minor or not in criminal cases.

The sole aim of preliminary assessment is to determine whether the child in the age of 16-18 years should be tried as an adult in case of heinous offence. There are two essential conditions that call for preliminary assessment. First, the offence is in the category of “heinous” as defined in the Act. Second, the child who has allegedly committed the crime is in the age group of 16-18 years.

What is heibious offence?

includes crimes for which the minimum punishment is imprisonment for seven years or more

JJB and it roles?

The JJB shall be responsible for the preliminary assessment and provide the child, the child’s family, and their counsel a copy of the order. In case the JJB does not have at least one member who is a practitioner with a degree in child psychology or child psychiatry, the JJB shall take the assistance of psychologists or experts. The child should also be provided with a legal aid counsel through the District Legal Services Authority who shall be present during the preliminary assessment. Experts, who have the required qualification to assist the JJB, to undergo training concerning Section 15 of the JJ Act, 2015

During the preliminary assessment, the Board and experts shall also analyse and take into consideration the Social Investigation Report (SIR)/Social Background Report (SBR).

SIR is prepared by the Probation officer or Child Welfare Officer or any social worker after interaction with the child or child’s family.

To determine the offender’s age, the JJ Board would either obtain the date of birth certificate from the school, or the matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination Board in the absence of the birth certificate given by a civic body.

Only in cases age shall be determined by an ossification test or any other latest medical age determination test” conducted on the orders of the JJ Board.

• The guidelines have been made to remove any ambiguity and to clarify the steps that need to be followed while conducting the preliminary assessment.

• However, the major issue remains the implementation and absorption of these principles in the system.

• A lot of principles which have been made a part of the Act have not been given due prominence by the JJB as well as by the Children’s Court.

What is NCPCR?

NCPCR is a statutory body under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005. It comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.

• The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group.

The commission's mandate is to ensure that all laws, policies, programmes, and administrative mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• The Commission visualizes a rights-based perspective flowing into National Policies and Programmes, along with nuanced responses at the State, District and Block levels, taking care of specificity and strengths of each region.

Composition:

This commission has a chairperson and six members of which at least two should be women.

All of them are appointed by the Central Government for three years.

The maximum age to serve in commission is 65 years for Chairman and 60 years for members.