NCPCR draft guidelines for assessing minors

NCPCR draft guidelines for assessing minors

News: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has come up with draft guidelines on the preliminary assessment of whether certain minors are to be tried under law as adults in particular cases, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. 

Background:
• Previously, all children under the age of 18 were deemed minors by the law, but a provision was added to the JJ Act in 2015 that allows a child in conflict with the law to be tried as an adult.
• In cases of heinous offences, a child between the ages of 16 and 18 may be tried as an adult, and the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) must perform a preliminary assessment to determine whether to try such a child as an adult or a minor.
• If tried as an adult, the child may be sentenced to jail, with the exception of death or life imprisonment

What is the need for Draft guidelines?
• Recently, the SC held that the task of preliminary assessment under the JJ Act is a “delicate task” and the assessment requires expertise and direction to put in place specific guidelines.
• The NCPCR has framed guidelines which describe the key procedures to conduct the preliminary assessment.
• While the course of assessment may differ from child to child, the guidelines are meant to frame essential components and the basic mechanisms to address any ambiguity.

What do the draft guidelines say?
• The preliminary assessment has to determine 4 aspects:
o Physical capacity of the child
o Mental capacity – To determine child’s ability to make social decisions and judgments. 
o Circumstances in which the offence was allegedly committed – Psychological vulnerabilities of child – Trauma, abuse, or mental health problems.
o Ability to understand the consequences of the alleged offence
• It also states that the experts (from the field of child psychology and psychiatry) must be given an optimal opportunity to interact with the child to build a rapport.
• A copy of the assessment (conducted within 3 months of the child being produced before the JJB) must be given to the child and a legal aid counsel must be present during the assessment.
• The JJB must rely on the Social Investigation Report, statements of witnesses and interaction with parents, guardians, school staff, peer groups and neighbors.

About NCPCR:
• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR was established in March 2007 under an Act of Parliament (December 2005) under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. 
• The commission's mandate is to ensure that all laws, policies, programs and administrative systems conform to the vision of the rights of the child as enunciated in the Constitution of India as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 
• A child is defined as a person falling in the age group of 0 to 18 years. 

About Juvenile Justice Act, 2015
• Parliament introduced and passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2015 to replace the Juvenile Delinquency Law and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act) 2000.
• The Act offered provisions to allow trials of juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years as an adult who were found to be in conflict with the law, especially heinous crimes.