File picture of Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
It was Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi's big pitch after she became minister. The proposal to treat 16-18 year olds accused of rape and other serious crimes as adults was the highlight of the Juvenile Justice Bill, Ms Gandhi introduced in Parliament last year. But her cabinet colleague JP Nadda's panel of lawmakers looking into the bill have rejected this clause and asked for a complete review.
The Health Minister-led Standing Committee had exhaustive consultations with various stake holders and activists and decided that, "relevant clauses dealing with differential treatment of children between 16-18 need to be reviewed", and asks Maneka Gandhi's ministry to submit a note on their recommendations.
The JP Nadda-led panel came to this conclusion after some strong remarks by the panel about this provision violating Supreme Court judgements. "There were minimum five judgements of the Supreme Court which provide that all children should be dealt with under the juvenile justice system," said their report. It rejects the ministry's contention that their had been societal changes which needed a relook at our laws.
"It is all the more surprising that the ministry has very comfortably chosen to ignore the views of all the major stakeholders in this regard," says the body, also rejecting that the number of juveniles convicted of comitting such crimes had risen.
So will Ms Gandhi now take back the bill or dilute her stance?