Juvenile Justice Bill passed in Rajya Sabha

December 23, 2015 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

The long-awaiting Juvenile Justice Bill was passed on Tuesday in Rajya Sabha. With this bill, 16-year old children will now be prosecuted as adults in case of their involvement in heinous crimes.

The Bill which was already passed in the Lok Sabha and will now be sent to the President of India for approval. The parents of Nirbhaya were present in the Upper House while the debate was going on the bill.

They were satisfied at the bill which passed. They said that it is a tribute to their daughter and hoped that young girls will get justice unlike their daughter. Her mother expressed her sadness that her daughter did not get justice.

The juvenile convict was released from remand home earlier this week despite the outrage of public and Nirbhaya’s parents. The current amendment in the bill will not affect his release.

While all the attackers of Nirbhaya have been sentenced to death, the juvenile convict could escape due to his age even though he was main person that was responsible for the heinous crime.

Congress Party supported the bill even though many of its leaders advised to send it to a select committee before supporting it. However, the Left walked out due to the rejection of their suggestion of review by a select committee.

The massive protest throughout the country on the release of juvenile convict and the sentiments of common people pressurized the political parties to amend the law. It created a sense of urgency and thus the bill was approved in the Upper House.

Kiran Bedi in her tweet mentioned that for Nirbhaya’s parents the bill would not have been passed in Rajya Sabha with as much urgency as it did now. Maneka Gandhi, the union minister for women and child development expressed her thanks to all the parties who supported the bill after it has been in Rajya Sabha.

Image credit: Sansad Bhavan image by Deepak Gupta is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0