In New Delhi, the Rajya Sabha passed the long-awaited Juvenile Justice Bill that proposes to try an accused who is above 16 years of age as an adult in the court of law. The Lok Sabha had passed the same bill earlier. The age to be tried as an adult is currently 18, this bill lowers the age by two years. The bill primarily emerged after the horrendous Nirbhaya rape case of three years ago, where one of the rapists was a minor at that time and walked out of jail on Sunday after he reached the age of 18. Nirbhaya has now been identified as Jyoti Singh and her parents were in the Rajya Sabha visitor’s gallery watching the proceedings of the House. In the past few days they had been protesting and demanding the passage of the bill and the death penalty for the other convicts in the case.
While this Bill has been hailed by many, and termed as a tribute to Jyoti Singh, there are others who were not prepared to bring down the age of trying a person as a minor to 16. The question many asked is whether the new law will act as a deterrent to youth from committing a crime. What the new law will ensure is that it won’t allow a youth who has committed a crime to go free just because of his age. But, whether it will deter youth from crime is a different question. It is clear that the juvenile who has now been released for the Nirbhaya rape would not have known of this aspect of the law when he joined the others in that horrendous rape. When laws and rules have not kept adults from committing crime, there is little hope that it will stop teenagers from slipping into a world of criminal activity.
Take the case of the molestation of a Curchorem school student earlier this month by her own teacher during a picnic. Is it possible that this teacher didn’t know that what he was doing is wrong and that there is a law under which he can be tried and prosecuted for what he has done? That’s hard to imagine and he being a teacher should have been a role model to his students. His actions are definitely not such that young children should emulate and action against him has to be taken immediately.
While laws are needed, what is also important is the manner in which the police department acts after a complaint reaches the police station. In the Curchorem school rape case, the Goa State Commission for Women has alleged that the police have taken no immediate action after the complaint was filed. According to the Commission chairperson, the police have not arrested the alleged accused, nor have they called him for questioning. The only action taken against the teacher so far is that the Education Department has suspended him. When the police act in such a lenient manner, it is not the law which acts as a deterrent but police inefficiency or incompetence that gives persons the gumption to indulge in crime.
The Curchorem rape case is not the only case in which a student has been raped and justice eludes the victim. The Vasco school rape case of January 2013 has still not reached a conclusion and the police have not even been able to identify the person who raped the girl. Somewhere out there that person is walking the streets, perhaps even looking for other victims. No law is effective unless the law enforcement agencies are able to complement it by their investigations and their use of the provisions to ensure that criminals are not allowed to go free. Today a 16-year-old can be tried as an adult, but justice will come only when the police show competence in enforcing the law.
