Author: Antriksh Mishra, 3rd Year student of RGSOIPL, IIT-Kharagpur.
Our politicians seem to have all the answers, especially when it comes to crimes like rape. What is the need of Psychologists, Criminologists and Legal experts when we have great minds like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Abu Azmi, Mohan Bhagwat, Abhijeet Mukherjee to replace them.
I will not state what these leaders have said as they have already received enough coverage in the social, print and electronic media.
Recently another suggestion came from the Gandhis of the BJP. Varun and Menaka suggested that if a juvenile commits rape he should be punished as severely as an adult under the IPC. To quote Varun“If he is old enough to rape he is old enough to be punished for it.”
But Varun that is not true, in fact a child’s involvement in any kind of crime proves that he is misguided and troubled.
And why just amend the law relating to the crime of rape? How is murder any different? Just because rape has been a hot, sensational and most talked about topic ever since the Delhi Rape case made headlines and the politicians hope to garner more political mileage and make more headlines by speaking out against it. Not that today’s political class would ever be involved in political appeasement.
To respond to Mr.Varun Gandhi’s statement, of course a juvenile is old enough to have sex, aren’t we all by the age of 15? That doesn’t mean we are old enough to understand the rights and wrongs of the society.
The age of puberty and the legal age of adulthood are two completely different things! These juveniles have no counsel or guidance to make them understand the rights and wrongs of the society. They are children struggling to find a place for themselves among their elder counterparts. So whose responsibility is it to provide them with proper counselling and guidance? Oh Yes!! There is a ministry set up for that purpose it’s called “The Ministry of Women and Child Development” and you’ll never guess who the Hon’ble Minister associated with this ministry is… Yes it is “Menaka Sanjay Gandhi.”
Their motto is “Holistic Development of Women and Children”and to achieve this they have adopted “The National policy for Children, 2013” which includes providing such guidance and help to children.
But all that was before the Minister had this epiphany.Now the meaning of “Development” has changed to “Developing children into Criminals.”Wow that is some idea! The political class has done it again, congratulations to yet another leader to come out with another brilliant idea. We the people of India can really get used to this.
What one fails to understand is why some activist and lawyers keep insisting on opposing such a game changing idea?
Ms Ved Kumari an expert on juvenile Justice Law and ex chairperson of Delhi Judicial Academy insists,
“Juvenile's involvement in the acts of 'adult' crime such as murder and rape does not imply maturity. On the contrary, it is direct evidence of vulnerability of juveniles to reckless behaviour. Once the juveniles are dealt under the criminal justice system, the children will turn much worse psychologically and are likely to commit crime again.”
Athiya Bose, an activist for the welfare of juveniles says“Studies from the western nations have already suggested that such initiatives are a failure and it becomes difficult for children to come back from the trauma that they suffer under the adult justice system.”
Nah!! What do they know? What makes them the experts? Other than having worked in the field of law and juvenile justice for the last decade.
Our politicians know better! They always have all the answers.
Disclaimer: This blog or any post thereof is not to be considered to be in any way associated with the official stand of IIT kharagpur or RGSOIPL on the issues being discussed in the said post. The opinions on the blog are the authors own and should not be considered as legal advice.