Amendment to Juvenile Justice Act opposed

The Child Rights Advocacy Foundation (CARF) has opposed the proposed amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA).

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, CARF state programme director P. Francis Tambi said that the Central government proposed amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act against the spirit of the child rights. As per UN convention on child rights, every person below the age of 18 years was a child. But, the government brought down the stipulated age to 16 years. The move was detrimental to the child rights and was against the international agreement too, he said.

The government should rethink on its policy that any child who violated the law should be treated as an adult. The government should, instead, look for a solution within purview of the Juvenile Justice Act, he said.

Mr. Tambi said that the government was requested to put the amendments in the public domain for a debate before adopting in the Rajya Sabha. The government should also consider the Justice Varma Committee report on child rights and withdraw its proposal to lower the age of child, he said.

West Godavari Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson T.N. Snehan, East Eluru CWC member Vijayalakshmi, Juvenile Justice Board member Krishna Prasad Das, Krishna district CWC member Roshan Kumar and others spoke.