Need Re-look at Juvenile Law for Serious Crimes, Supreme Court Tells Centre

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to have a re-look at the law on juveniles involved in serious crimes like murder and rape.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was asked to consult the government and get back to the court in May.

Demands for minors involved in brutal crimes to be tried and punished as adults peaked after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. One of the six men convicted of the gang-rape, torture and killing of a student was a man who had been a few months short of 18 at the time of the incident. He was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility, which set off angry protests.

The court today responded to an appeal filed by a murder convict from Haryana, who wants his life sentence overturned saying he was below 18 at the time of crime and cannot be tried by a regular court.

The court had already asked the Centre in a different case whether the provisions of Juvenile law applied to all heinous crimes.

The top court had earlier upheld the provisions of Juvenile law and had said it is up to the government to change it.

Last year, the government had introduced a bill that said a juvenile justice board would decide whether a person above 16 years involved in crimes such as rape was to be sent to an observation home or tried in a regular court.

But a panel headed by Health Minister JP Nadda asked for a complete review of the proposed law.