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Maneka sends Juvenile Act amendments to Law Minister

by IBNS 22 Jul 2014, 12:03 pm

New Delhi, July 22 (IBNS): Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has sent the proposed amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act, to include minors indulging in crimes like rape to be treated as adults, to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, according to media reports.

According to reports in media, Prasad has assured to clear the amendment at the earliest. 
 
Maneka Gandhi recently said as per police records half the sexual crimes are committed by "16-year-olds who know the Juvenile Justice Act so they can do it."

"But now for premeditated murder, rape, if we bring them into the purview of the adult world, then it will scare them," she said.

"We are changing the law and I am personally working on it to bring 16-year-olds into the purview," she said.

 It may be noted that one of the most brutal attackers of the Dec 2012 fatal Delhi bus gang-rape victim was a juvenile when he committed the crime.

Maneka Gandhi's predecessor in the previous UPA government, Krishna Tirath, had also wanted that juveniles above 16 years committing such crimes should be treated as adult offenders.