The Centre is considering amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of Children) Act, 2000, to redefine a juvenile, with alternate age.
There have been demands to bring down a juvenile’s age, following the Delhi gangrape, in which one of the six accused was a juvenile. He may escape harsher punishment, as he would be tried under the existing Act. He was, however, said to be the most brutal of all the six.
Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that the amendment to the Juvenile Act was under consideration of her ministry.
In a written reply to the House, she said her ministry had formulated a scheme of ‘Restorative Justice to Victims of Rape’. The minister informed that the scheme envisaged a financial assistance of `1.20 lakh and provision of support services such as shelter, counselling, medical aid, legal assistance, education and vocational training to rape victims, based on their need.
Tirath also revealed that the government has proposed to amend the Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act, 1956.
The ministry has constituted an inter-ministerial group under the chairmanship of its Additional Secretary, for amending the Act.
The group has representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, Delhi police, National Commission for Women, National Mission for Empowerment of Women and three Delhi-based NGOs.
“It has discussed various provisions of the act and recommendations made by various organisations and submitted a report to the ministry,” she said.