• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act was introduced and passed in Parliament in 2015 to replace the Juvenile Delinquency Law and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act) 2000.

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• One of the main provisions of the new Act was allowing the trial of juveniles in conflict with law in the age group of 16-18 years as adults, in cases where the crimes were to be determined.
• The nature of the crime, and whether the juvenile should be tried as a minor or a child, was to be determined by a Juvenile Justice Board.
• This provision received an impetus after the 2012 Delhi gangrape in which one of the accused was just short of 18 years, and was therefore tried as a juvenile.
• The second major provision was with regards to adoption, bringing a more universally acceptable adoption law instead of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956) and Guardians of the ward Act (1890) which was for Muslims, although the Act did not replace these laws.
• The Act streamlined adoption procedures for orphans, abandoned and surrendered children and the existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been given the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more                 effectively.
• The amendment passed by the Union Cabinet this week has included for the first time the category of “serious crimes”.
• It has thus been tried to differentiate it from heinous crimes, while retaining heinous crimes. Both heinous and serious crimes have also been clarified for the first time, removing any ambiguity.
• The act has clarified that in case a juvenile is tried as an adult, he/ she may be sentenced for a maximum of 7 years or more but also a minimum of 7 years at the same time.

Significance of the amendments to the Act:

• It has been made sure that the children are protected and kept out of the adult justice system as much as possible.
• Currently, with no such mention of minimum sentence, the Juveniles between ages of 16-18 year could be treated as adults for a crime for possession of illegal substances or serious crimes too. Now this has been cleared.

Power of the District Magistrate:

• After the changes, the district magistrates along with the additional district magistrates would monitor the functioning of various agencies like Child Welfare Committees, the Juvenile Justice Boards, the District Child Protection Units and the Special Juvenile Protection Units would monitor the functioning of the Act in various districts.
• “If children have been reunited with their parents or are found dead, that data too will be under the district magistrate, which will be given to the state government for proper evaluation,” Smriti Irani informed.
• DMs and ADMs have also been empowered to decide on adoption cases. Also appeals can be done at the divisional commissioner level now.
• The NCPCR report had found that not a single Child Care Institution (CCI) in India was in 100 percent compliance to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. DM’s are also responsible now for ensuring that CCIs falling in their district are following all norms and procedures.