Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill 2021

Context-

Recently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has proposed the draft amendments to Juvenile Justice Model Rules, 2016 .

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 15, 2021. The Bill amends the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the 2021 Bill states that adoption cases have witnessed significant delay in courts. Also, it emphasized that adoption cases are non-adversarial in nature and need well laid out process.

Key amendments in Juvenile justice ( care and protection of children) Amendment Bill 2021-

• The bill authorizes District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to issue adoption orders under Section 61 of the Juvenile Justice Act, in order to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability.
• The District Magistrates have been further empowered under the Act, to ensure its smooth implementation, as well as accelerate synergized efforts in favour of children in distress situations.
• As per the amendments in the bill, any Child Care Institutions shall be registered after considering the recommendations of the District Magistrate.
• The DM shall independently evaluate the functioning of District Child Protection Units, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, Specialized Juvenile Police Units, Child care Institutions etc.
• The bill provided redefinition of eligibility parameters for appointment of CWC members.
• As per the bill, criteria for disqualification of the CWC members has also been introduced ensuring that only the persons capable of providing quality service with required competence and integrity are appointed to CWC.
• Presently there are three categories (petty, serious and heinous) defined under the Act which are referred to, while considering the cases of children in conflict with law.
• However, it was observed that some of the offences do not strictly fall under any of these categories.
• So, it has been decided that offences where the maximum sentence is more than 7 years imprisonment but no minimum sentence has been prescribed or minimum sentence of less than 7 years is given, then it should be treated as serious offences within this Act.

# A juvenile is a person less than 18 years of age. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 addresses children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.

The Act fulfils India’s commitment as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Inter-country Adoption (1993), and other related international instruments. As a signatory, India is required to undertake all appropriate measures to ensure the rights of children with regard to juvenile justice, care and protection, and adoption.

The draft amendments to Juvenile Justice Model Rules, 2016-

• The proposed rules say any Child Care Institution (CCI) will be registered on the basis of the recommendations of the DM.
• To ensure greater scrutiny of CCIs, the amendments propose that in case any institute commits any offence under the law, the district child welfare committees or board may pass appropriate orders for placing the children in any other institution or agency and recommend the cancellation of the registration and withdrawal of recognition of such institution or agency to the DM.
• Any person responsible for receiving foreign contributions in individual capacity or in an organization, shall not be eligible to be a chairperson or member of the Child welfare committee.

Sources-

• The Hindustan times
• PIB
• PRS India