CHILD IN CONFLICT WITH LAW1

Abstract

Every child has the natural chance to expand up, realize his or her highest capability, and
make a positive contribution to the countries and culture’s growth. The Indian Constitution
places the health and well-being of children at the top of the agenda. The Government of
India’s Juvenile Justice (Care and Security of Children) Act, 2015 takes a comprehensive
approach to preserving rights of children by ensuring adequate care, preservation, growth,
therapy, and early intervention of children in unfortunate conditions through a child-friendly
method. Children are born harmless; however, due to a variety of reasons, many children
develop delinquent behaviors and are sometimes “in conflict with the law.” Emotional
outbursts, minor robberies, drug abuse, abusive or offensive behavior, and more severe forms
of crimes are all examples of these behaviors. These habits are often picked up early in life.
Parents, family members, and those who look after children, on the other hand, should assist
them in learning to cope with feelings without resorting to abuse.

Key Word: Juvenile, Crime, Punishment

Introduction
Children develop societal norms by strong ties with parents and others, according to studies,
which shield them from disruptive impulses.

Within Section 2 (13) of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a
“Child in Conflict with Law” is described as a child who is suspected or accused of
committing an assault and has not reached the age of eighteen on the occasion of the incident.

Children in conflict with the law are those poor individuals who, for one reason or another,
have struggled to adapt to the social commerce and have developed a lifestyle that has caused
them to become deviants, resulting in them becoming criminals. They might have met their
more affluent counterparts in the social commerce for a systematic, positive, and satisfying
life if they had received enough attention from their family and community environment. In
the lack of healthy parental supervision, the child can engage in delinquent behavior such as
leaving home, public indecency, truancy, and minor offenses. A nation ruled by a fusion of
ideologies, religions, and languages of various communities in the country have one common
factor: close family relations and social bonds formed in the neighborhood where he grew up.
With India's rapid development and entry into the international market, the economy has
1
Sumit Agarwala, Assistant Professor, School of Law, GD Goenka University, Gurgaon, Haryana
entered a period of transformation. The joint family structure has broken down, and the
nucleus family is now unable to maintain cultural and ethical authority over the young
person. Since the 1920s, India has enacted a slew of laws addressing various aspects of how
children should be handled. Significant changes were made to the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA)
of 1986 and 2000, which specifically mentioned the care, safety, recovery, growth, and
recovery of abused and delinquent juveniles. Further reforms followed, and the JJ Act 2000
was repealed by the Juvenile Justice Act 2015. The JJ Act of 2015 strengthens protections for
both children in need of treatment and security and children who have run afoul of the statute.

The emphasis is on delivering ability services to children while they are in detention centers,
allowing them to develop their own support structure by continuing their education and
working for a living. Non-institutional services and neighborhood care are given priority, as
they aid in the rehabilitation of the adolescent or infant back into his family and community.
The current article is based on a study of children in the country’s prison systems, as well as
the methods used to educate and reintegrate them into their communities.

Children are accused of committing a variety of crimes

The Juvenile Justice System believes that a juvenile abuser is a victim of a difficult
upbringing and deserves a second chance at life. In odd days, the offenses may have been
conducted without any malice aforethought. The child is likely oblivious to the
ramifications/consequences of his decisions. It is widely understood that a juvenile abuser
should not be punished based on the type of crime he or she has performed, but rather should
receive healthcare services that is rehabilitative in nature and is tailored to his or her needs,
personal and behavioral context. As per the National Crime Record Bureau, there were
31,396 reports of “children in conflict with the law” registered in 2015, with a 2.1% crime
rate performed by them. The majority of crimes, however, are minor offenses that can be
avoided by providing adequate supervision and counseling to youngsters as well as
improving their households’ finances. An examination of youngsters who had run afoul of the
law revealed that the vast majority of them resided to the socially disadvantaged. About
11.5% of them were uneducated, while 43.4% had only received primary education.

Juvenile delinquency causes

Children events and encounters are important in the creation of wrongdoing, according to B.
R. Sharma, Sangeet Dhillon, and Sarmadi Bano’s 2 study; however, this does not mean crimes
2
Sharma BS, Dhillon. Juvenile delinquency in India A cause for concern. J Indian Acad Forensic Med.
2009;31(1):68–70.
reveal their criminal behavior early in life. Juvenile delinquency is caused by a variety of
factors. Social phenomena of juvenile delinquency must be understood because they
emphasize the context, social dynamics, and the long process. However, there are several
factors that play a role in a child’s delinquent conduct. 3 Independent factors contribute to
juvenile delinquency, according to a report by B. R Sharma, Sangeeth Dhillon, and Sarmadi
Bano4. Personal attributes such as subservience, resistance, aggression, impulsive behavior,
feelings of discomfort, anxiety, lack of intellectual, and personality clashes are personal
qualities, while contextual variables include family, colleagues, films, academic atmosphere,
and workplace culture, among others. Kids, in general, need guidance, attention, care,
attentive nurturing, and social participation in order to become safe. When these basic needs
are not met, it can have an effect on a person's development. Weak houses, deprivation of
affection, absence of family love, group street culture, homelessness, bad effect of movies
and media, urban growth, juvenile dysfunction, loss of leisure, adverse atmosphere, low-
socioeconomic, poor parenting abuse, availability of guns, association with delinquent peers,
adolescent drug use are all listed as causes of youth crime in Haveripeth PD’s 5 study.
According to one report, juvenile crime is caused by bad business, excess extra cash,
vengeance factor, low levels of education, lack of exposure to media, a lack of morals,
inexpensive literature, a love of exploration, sex education exposure, and psychological
disputes, among other factors. For a variety of causes, juveniles are arrested. Financial
difficulties are not the only factor that contributes to juvenile delinquency; other factors also
contribute to the probability of juvenile delinquency.

It is important to be mindful of the various crimes committed by juveniles. In many cases,

juveniles who are interested in crimes are not offenders, but rather survivors of community.6

As per the NCRB7 report, 2037 cases of minors in conflict with law were reported in 2015
under various special and state ordinances. The data indicates that 218 juveniles faced legal
problems as a result of betting and were arrested under the Gambling Act, 1867, which is the
highest number of cases comparison to other kinds of offences.  In 2015, minors were

3
Sharma BS, Dhillon. Juvenile delinquency in India A cause for concern. J Indian Acad Forensic Med.
2009;31(1):68–70.
4
Sharma BS, Dhillon. Juvenile delinquency in India A cause for concern. J Indian Acad Forensic Med.
2009;31(1):68–70.
5
Haveripeth PD. Contributing factors of juvenile delinquency. International Journal of Innovative Research and
Development. 2013;2(1):8–16.
6
Coleman, James William, Harold Kerbo. Social Problems. 9th ed. USA: Pearson Prentice Hal; 2006.
7
National crime records bureau, Ministry of home affairs, Government of India Narayana KS. Dimensions of
juvenile problems: institutional and non-institutional. Soc Welfare. 2005;51(10):13–25.
arrested under various Indian laws, including the Children Arms Act, 1959, the Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Excise Act, 1944, the Prohibition Act, the Explosives &
Explosive Substances Act, 1884, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, the Protection
of Civil Rights Act, 1955, the Passport Act, 1967, the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act 1987, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities), Forest Act, 1927, Prohibition
of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and other acts. This depicts various criminal acts committed by
Indian children. In order to deter juvenile crimes in India, child welfare initiatives at the
person, family, and local scale must implement intervention measures. Many children are
unaware of the repercussions of their actions. Great parenting boosts a child's trust in his or
her ability to stay safe. Marriage problems, inter-couple problems, a broken family, and
raising children may all have an effect on a person's development. According to Coleman and
Kerbo’s research, kids from single parents are 10 to 15% more likely to become delinquent
than children from two-parent families with similar social characteristics. As a result, social
science implications such as family therapy and counseling can be used to change family
relationship patterns in a child's favor.

Children’s current everyday habits must be overseen by family members on a daily basis,
with children being informed of the dangers of viewing violent content on television. The use
of social work effects is critical in educating family members or parents about the dangers of
viewing violent videos. This can be accomplished by public awareness campaigns and
therapy techniques.

Juvenile delinquency is linked to a number of factors. Physical characteristics, cognitive

functions, home conditions, educational conditions, neighborhood, and workplace conditions,
according to Bridges KB8, are divided into six categories. The first two groups involve all
factors relating to the delinquent's physical and mental health. Both heredity and the climate
play a role in these traits. Ecological factors make up the other four categories: adverse
conditions in the kid's life and children, unfavorable conditions in the school setting, the
community, and populations.

Kids in legal trouble have the right to make decisions that supports their senses of value and
respect, takes into consideration their age, and helps to reintegrate them into community,
according to Articles 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Often,
incarcerating children who have violated the rules should be the very last resort, and should
8
Bridges KB. Factors contributing to juvenile delinquency. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.
1927;17(4):531–580.
be avoided wherever possible. For crimes perpetrated by people under the age of 18, the
convention forbids the death sentence and prison terms.

UNICEF works to minimize imprisonment while also shielding children from crime,
bullying, and neglect in the juvenile justice system. It supports family and community-based
healing as a safer, more acceptable, and efficient alternative to harsh actions. Adult judicial
systems also lack the ability to properly resolve these problems, and are more likely to injure
rather than help a child reintegrate into society. For these purposes, UNICEF actively
supports diversion (moving children away from criminal trials and into community
solutions), retributive justice (promoting healing, rehabilitation, and accountability through
the participation of the child, families, victims, and community members), and alternatives to
incarceration (counselling, probation and community service).

In Madras, the first Children’s Court was established in 1920, guaranteeing that kids were
stored isolated from all interaction with adult criminals to shield them from their negative
influence. The parens patriae theory appeared to have affected following Children’s Courts
formed in other States, as they prevented the participation of an attorney before the
Children’s Court. The Children Act of 1960, which was enacted by Parliament, contained this
ban. As either a factual matter, the Act proceeded to forbid the participation of an attorney
before adjudicative bodies. Following the Gujarat High Court’s ruling in “Kario alias
Mansingh Malu v. State of Saurashtra”9, which ruled such clauses unlawful, it was modified
in 1978 to lift the ban on lawyers appearing before the children's court.

In a PIL filed by Sheela Barse, the Supreme Court of India suggested that a unified
legislature be passed for the entire nation. The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, was passed by
Parliament in response to this directive, bringing some homogeneity to the legislation, duties,
rights, policies, and instructions to be given by Children’s courts across the country, with the
exception of Jammu and Kashmir.

While most of the requirements of the JJ Act, 2015 and the structure for the treatment and
safety of the child in conflict with the law are rendered expressly in furtherance of India’s
duty under the CRC, the procedure of transferring kids and submitting them to the risk of
being tried as individuals is in violation of these clauses. The JJ Act, 2000 was questioned
frequently in the Supreme Court of India (hereinafter referred to as the Apex Court), although
both occasions the courts have upheld its legal standing.

9
(1969) 10 Guj LR 60.
Conclusion
As a result of the preceding debate, violent crimes such as rape and murder go unpunished,
with the defendant claiming juvenility. Only the correct application and modifications to the
Juvenile Justice Act would be able to prevent juvenile offenses. It is important for parents and
guardians to be aware of the various causes for their children being involved in criminal
activity. Juveniles who commit crimes are not criminals; in some cases, they are victims of
society. Juvenile delinquency can be prevented at an early age if extra precautions are taken
at home and at school. Parents and schools play an important role in developing a child’s
mind. Instead of identifying them as offenders or delinquents, more emphasis should be
placed on recognizing their needs and providing them with options for change. The epidemic
of child crime, like many other societal issues, is related to our society's flaws and
misalignments.