Origin of the Juvenile Justice system in India
The Juvenile Justice system in the country has evolved in response to the domestic and international calls for a change in the system. The expression Juvenile Justice was used for the first time in the State of Illinois in 1899 and the first Juvenile Court was created in Cook County, Illinois in the same year. The Illinois Juvenile Court Act, 1899 provided an entirely separate system of Juvenile Justice. It was the first statute in the United States that created Courts with jurisdiction over all matters concerning neglected and delinquent children. The seeds of the Juvenile Justice System were sown in India through the Apprentices Act, 1850. The concept gained momentum in the enactments of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Reformatory Schools Act, 1876. Then came the recommendations by the Indian Jail Committee (1919-1920) which suggested that (i) the juvenile offenders should be treated differently from the adult offenders (ii) juvenile offenders should not be detained and (iii) juvenile Courts should be constituted. Several States responded swiftly and made laws for the care and protection of children. The Tamil Nadu Children Act, 1920 made provisions for care, protection, welfare, education and rehabilitation of neglected and delinquent children. The detention of the children in jail was strictly prohibited. It introduced the Juvenile Code Model for the first time in India. It defined child and young person and provided the sentence that cannot be inflicted on a child. Soon thereafter a legislation wave swept the country and Bengal Children Act, 1922, Bombay Children Act, 1924, Bombay Children Act, 1948, East Punjab Children Act, 1949, Hyderabad Children Act, 1951, Saurashtra Children Act 1954, Mysore Children Act, 1964, Bihar Children Act, 1970, Rajasthan Children Act, 1970, and Odisha Children Act, 1982 came to be enacted in the respective States. The Children Act, 1960 which was made applicable to the Union Territories addressed some of the issues, but several other States had no law to deal with the children, young people and delinquent juveniles. “Sheela Barse (II) & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.” stressed on the desirability to have complete uniformity in the Juvenile Justice System across the country. This Court observed that the Central Government should initiate Parliamentary Legislation on the subject instead of each State having its own Children’s Act.