Topic: Historical Development of

Juvenile Justice System in India

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INTRODUCTION
 Who are Juveniles?
 In the Indian circumstances, a juvenile or
child is any person who is below the age of
18 years.  However, the Indian Penal Code
specifies that a child cannot be charged for
any crime until he has attained seven years
of age.
 In the amended law (2015 Act), the terms
are ‘children in conflict with the law’ and
‘children in need of care and protection’; so
that the distinction is clear.
 During the British rule certain
BRITISH PERIOD laws were enacted to address the
issue of juvenile delinquency and
child welfare.
Laws like whipping act of 1864
was passed.
1876 reformatory school act, the
Borstal school act, Children’s act
of 1920 and other state specific
legislation like Bengal Children’s
Act, Madras Children’s Act to
address neglect and deviant
children’s these laws gave
diluents some special provision
regarding their institutionalization
and rehabilitation.
Throughout the country, in this
Act the age of male juvenile was
kept at sixteen years while the
girl age was kept at eighteen
years.
UNCRC AND JUVENILE JUSTICE (CARE AND
PROTECTION) ACT 2000

-In 1992 India became member of

UNNCRC( united nations
convention on rights of child),
and brought .
-On December 11, 1992, India
ratified the UNCRC promising to
ensure the rights of survival,
protection, development and
participation for all its children
in the country.
-Juvenile Justice Act was
enacted by India in the year
1986. Following this, the general
assembly of the United Nations
adopted the convention which
dealt with the rights of a child,
and it was in 1992 when India
ratified the UNCRC.
JUVENILE JUSTICE IN INDIA
- Regulating Act of 1773.
- Status of Juveniles prior
to 1773.
- Status of Juveniles
from1773-1849.
- Period from 1850-1919.
- Period from 1919-1950.
- Period from 1950-2000.
- Period from 2000-2015.
- Juvenile Justice Act
2015.
--
REGUATING ACT OF 1773
 Year 1773 was a benchmark in the Indian
legal system as Regulating Act of 1773
granted East India company the power to
make and enforce laws.
 Between 1773 -1850 many committees
were established focusing on children’s in
jails, first law was made in 1850 to keep
juveniles out of jails later the Report on
All India Jail committee 1919-1920
segregated children from criminal justice
system.
STATUS OF JUVENILES PRIOR TO 1773

 Both Hindu law (Manusmriti) and Islamic law

(Sharia) prescribes for maintenance and proper
upbringing of the children and it was the sole
responsibility of parents to provide care and
protection to the children and if the families were
unable then someone from the community took
care of the children.
 According to Islamic law if anyone finds the
abandoned child and feels that child would be
harmed then he must take care of the child.
 under Hindu law if a child is found throwing filth
on the public road he has to clean the place while
an adult has to pay the fine.
STATUS OF JUVENILE FROM 1773- 1849
Welfare mechanism for the
children took different forms.
Krishna Chandra Ghoshal and Jai
Narayan Ghoshal approached to
Lord the then Governor General
for establishing the home for
destitute juveniles in major
trading city of Calcutta.
- The objective was to reform
the child delinquents who were
arrested by the police this was
done by encouraging them to
work through apprenticeship
and Industrial Training which
prepared the base for passing
the Apprentices Act 1850.
PERIOD FROM 1850-1919
--Government passed Whipping
Act of 1864 aiming that whipping
for certain class of offences by
young delinquents will have a
deterrent effect, and government
will not have to Invest on
establishing the reformatories for
the juveniles as juvenile
delinquency got politicized such
that some were in favor of
corporal punishment and some
were on rehabilitation and lastly
corporal was chosen as it was
viable in terms of economic
conditions.
-- The objective of the law was to
channelize the energy of the
children and deviate them from
criminal influence and make them
work so that after reaching
majority they could earn a living.
PERIOD FROM 1919-1950
--The Indian Jail committee was
established in 1919-1920, which
urged to the British government
for establishing separate
institutions and to have separate
trials for the juveniles also.
-- Madras children’s act was the
first delinquency law in India, it
did not used the term delinquent
instead defined ‘child’ as anyone
under the age of fourteen years, a
‘young’ person from fourteen to
eighteen years and an ‘youthful
offender’ under the age of
eighteen years who has been
convicted of offence mentioned in
Indian Penal code or any other
special or local laws for which an
offender can be incarcerated
PERIOD FROM 1950-2000
In1960 Union government enacted,
the children Act 1960, which was
applicable to union territories which
were directly administered by the
Union government.

Apex court Judgment in Sheela

Barse case played a crucial role in
passing the uniform law on juvenile
justice where it acknowledged that
the children in the jails are entitled
to special treatment and
recommended that parliament
should make a uniform law
applicable throughout the country.

Under the 1986 law, juvenile

delinquents are persons below
specified ages who committed
certain acts that would be treated
as crimes if committed by adults.
PERIOD FROM 2000-2015
The Juvenile Justice
(care and protection of
children) Act 2000 was
passed in December
2000 and came in force
on April 1, 2001 and was
amended in 2006 aiming
to protect, care,
rehabilitate and educate
the juvenile and to
provide them with
vocational training
opportunities.
JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT 2015
 No child can be awarded the death penalty
or life imprisonment.
 It treats all the children below 18 years
equally, except that those in the age group
of 16-18 can be tried as adults if they
commit a heinous crime.
 A Children’s court is a special court set up
under the Commissions for Protection of
Child Rights Act, 2005.
 JUVENILE JUSTICE (CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN)
AMENDMENT BILL 2018 Transfer of proceedings: The Bill transfers
all pending matters related to adoption
before any court to the district magistrate
having jurisdiction over the area.

Under the Act, once prospective adoptive

parents living in India or abroad accept a
child, an adoption agency files an
application in a civil court to obtain the
adoption order.  The adoption order issued
by the court establishes that the child
belongs to the adoptive parents.  

In cases where a person living abroad

intends to adopt a child from his relative
in India, he is required to obtain an order
from the court and apply for a no
objection certificate from the Central
Adoption Regulation Authority.