SC refused to reduce the Age of Juvenile from 18 to 16 Years

The Supreme Court of India on 17 July 2013 refused to reduce the age of juvenile from 18 to 16 years and dismissed a plea that minors involved in heinous crimes should not be protected under the law. A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir ruled that interference in the Juvenile Justice Act is not necessary and dismissed a batch of PILs which were filed in the aftermath of the 16 December 2012 brutal gang-rape and murder case in which a minor was also allegedly involved.

In the wake of the huge hue and cry over the alleged involvement of the minor in the 16 December 2012 case, a batch of PILs was filed in the apex court pleading that the Act should be amended and a minor, involved in heinous crimes, should not be protected under the law. The plea in the apex court was opposed by various child activists, including former Chairman of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights Amod Kanth.

On 16 December 2012, a 23-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped and assaulted in a moving bus allegedly by six persons, one of whom is a minor and is facing proceedings before a Juvenile Justice Board which is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on 25 July 2013.