Parliament passes bill to reduce juvenile age to 16 years

New DelhiParliament on Tuesday passed the juvenile justice bill a day after members cutting across party lines agreed that the important legislation should be taken up immediatelyHowever members of Left parties walked out of the Rajya Sabha before the bill was passed demanding that it should be sent to a select committee of the houseThe Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Bill 2015 was passed by the Lok Sabha in MayAsha Devi and Badrinath parents of the 23yearold paramedical student who was gangraped by five men and a juvenile on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16 2012 were present in the visitors gallery as the Rajya Sabha took up the bill for discussionNirbhayarsquos parents speak to reporters after leaving the Parliament following the passage of the Juvenile Justice Bill yesterday PicPTIThe bill provides for the trial of those between 16 and 18 years of age as adults for heinous offences Also anyone between the age of 16 and 18 who commits a less serious offence may be tried as an adult if he is apprehended after he attains the age of 21Giving out the bills details Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said borstals a custodial institution for young offenders would be set up under the proposed law to house juveniles accused of heinous crimesManeka Gandhi said juvenile crime was being encouraged by the existing lawJuveniles involvement in crime is increasing the fastest Children walk into police stations and say we have murdered send us to a juvenile home she saidLeader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said juvenile convicts should not be kept in jail with hardened criminals and there should be a separate place for themParliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu meanwhile said the government had listed the bill several times in the monsoon session as well as the winter session but it could not be taken upThis law will not be applicable in retrospective he said which means it will not be applicable on the rape convict who has already been freedMembers from the Nationalist Congress Party NCP and DMK also questioned the hurry in passing the bill suggesting that it may be sent to a select committeeHowever none of the notices to send the bill to a house panel were presented to Deputy Chairman PJ KurienCommunist Party of IndiaMarxist leader Sitaram Yechury called it an emotional moveIf tomorrow a 15year 11monthold commits a crime will you change the definition again Today ISIS is recruiting 1415 year olds Are we going to reduce the age from 18 to 16 to 14 he askedThe culprit who has committed the horrendous crime you cannot punish him That sentiment of punishing him is there These are matters that merit a certain consideration Refer it to a select committee he saidKurien however said there was no proposal to send the bill to a panel after which members of the Left parties staged a walkoutThe bill was passed through voice vote after thatThe mother of the victim who met Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday morning said had the bill been passed earlier the juvenile convict would not have walked freeHe juvenile convict would not have been released if this bill had been passed six months ago Though it has been delayed we want this bill to be passed in parliament at the earliest Asha Devi told reportersThe juvenile who was under 18 years of age when he was held with five other men for the brutal rape and murder was tried under the Juvenile Justice Act He was put in a remand home for three years the maximum permissible under the legal provisionsHe was released from the correctional home on Sunday after completing his sentence amid protests by the parents of the victim and others in the national capital