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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

18/04/23 06:40 AM IST

NCPCR issues guidelines for assessment of child suspects in heinous offences

In News
  • THE NATIONAL Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issued guildelines for the first time for conducting “preliminary assessment’’ to determine whether a child should be treated as a minor or not in criminal cases.
About Guidelines
  • Child suspects should be assessed by a team of experts, including a child psychologist or psychiatrist, a medical doctor, and a social worker.
  • The assessment should take into account the child's age, developmental stage, and maturity level, as well as any history of trauma or abuse.
  • The team should also consider the child's cognitive abilities and capacity to understand the charges against them.
  • The child suspects will be provided with legal aid and support from child welfare agencies.
  • The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) will be responsible for conducting a preliminary assessment of the child suspect.
  • The JJB must complete this assessment within three months from the date the child is first brought before it.
  • If the JJB determines that there is a need for a trial of the child as an adult, it will then transfer the case to the Children's Court.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
  • Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a child is defined as an individual who has not completed 18 years of age.
  • However, there is a specific provision under which initiation of an inquiry into a heinous crime has been differentiated based on the age of the child.
  • According to Section 15(1) of the Act, in case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a child “who has completed or is above” the age of 16, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) “shall conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence”.
Criminal Cases
  • The amendment passed in 2021 by Parliament defines three categories of criminal cases involving children in conflict with law.
  • They are “heinous offences,” which include crimes for which the minimum punishment is imprisonment for 7 years or more; “petty offences,” which includes crimes for which the maximum punishment is imprisonment up to three years; and
  • “Serious offences,” which includes crimes for which the punishment is a minimum imprisonment for a term more than 3 years and not exceeding 7 years.
Age Determination
  • To determine the offender’s age, the JJ Board would either obtain the date of birth certificate from the school or the matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination Board in the absence of the birth certificate given by a civic body.
  • Only in cases where neither of the two are available, “age shall be determined by an ossification test or any other latest medical age determination test” conducted on the orders of the JJ Board.
Source- Indian Express

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