Juvenile

You're query is very fascinating and I'll try to make you understand the concept of trial system in India. See traditionally, a person below the age of 18 is tried as a juvenile under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (“Act”). However, under certain circumstances, where the severity of the punishment as prescribed under the Act fails to justify the acts of the juvenile offender, the Act provides that the juvenile can be tried as an adult.

The Act re-enacted the existing Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (“JJ Act”) to make wide-ranging necessities to deal with delinquent children and orphaned children. It introduced circumstances and procedures for trying juveniles in conflict with law, involved in heinous offences as adults. The Act was passed taking into consideration the standards prescribed by various conventions and rules prescribed by the United Nations with respect to the rights of children, their protection and administration of justice.

The Act has introduced the concept of three categories of offences under which a Juvenile can be tried as an Adult:

⭕Petty offences include the offences for which the maximum punishment under the IPC or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment upto three years;

⭕Serious offences include the offences for which the punishment under the IPC or any other law for the time being I force, is imprisonment between three to seven years;

⭕Heinous offences include the offences for which the minimum punishment under the IPC or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more.
Therefore, in accordance to the Act, a juvenile offender, between the age of 16-18 can be tried as an adult for any of the offences as mentioned above, together with any of the offences under any other act in force, wherein the minimum punishment is 7 years or more.

Thus, the answer to your query is "Yes" a person can be tried as an adult irrespective of his/her during the commencement of the offence, is the offence committed was of such a grievous nature that it fails to comly with juvenile offenders.

Hope It Helps

Regards
Kevin M. Paul

Hello,

To answer your query,

Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2015, it is a general norm that anyone under the age of 18 is tried in juvenile court. However, this rule is influenced by a variety of situations.

The most essential factor is the degree of heinousness of the offence. In the recent developments in criminal law, it is established that a heinous crime is an offense where the minimum punishment under the IPC or any other law in force is imprisonment for seven years or more. Hence, if the offender (16-18 years old) has committed such an offense, he will be tried as an adult.

Some other factors affecting may be the behavior of the offender. For example, if it can be established that he has remorse for his actions or was not aware of the nature of the act he was commiting. In that case, the court may consider these mitigating factors.  The court may decide whether to try him like an adult or try him as a juvenile and send him to rehabilitation.

This situation is very subjective, and there is no strait-jacket formula to decide the matter. It depends upon the facts of the case.

Regards,

Megha Bindal