File pic: Protests after the Delhi gang-rape in December, 2012
A day after the cabinet cleared amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act, the parents of the woman who died after being gangraped in a bus in Delhi in 2012, demanded fresh trial for the juvenile involved in the crime.
The youth, a few months short of 18 years at the time, was sent to an observation home for three years as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.
The sentence had sparked nationwide outrage, contributing to the proposed amendment, which enables the Juvenile Justice Board to decide if a child above the age of 16 years accused of heinous crimes can be tried as an adult.
"We want the juvenile to be tried under the new law for what he did to my daughter. He must be punished," the-23-year-old paramedic student's mother told NDTV.
On the other hand, the UNICEF released a statement calling the government's move "a step back".
In it, Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Country Representative, said worldwide, transfer of juvenile cases to adult courts has not resulted in reduction of crime. "Instead, a working system of treatment and rehabilitation has shown better results."
The two statements, in a nutshell, explain how divided views are on both sides.
Figures from the National Crime Records Bureau show 67% of juveniles charged with rape are over 16 years old. The figure is 68% for murder.
"There are loopholes in the law. I think we should look at the nature of crime than the age," said Nalin Kohli of the BJP.
But data also shows in 2013, crimes by children accounted for just 1.2% of the overall figure, which is making many wonder if the government jumped the gun.
Kalpana Purushothaman, who works at the Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, is one of them.
"We needed a villain. And right now, the adolescent is the scapegoat.What these children need is not to be sent to prison, but help, treatment, counselling," said Ms Purushothaman.
"It (the proposed amendment) brings in a lot of arbitrariness. Some juvenile board may feel the need to transfer a child to an adult system. Another may not. We need a greater debate," added Bharti Ali, Co-Director at Haq, a centre for child rights.