The Delhi High Court will on Wednesday hear a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to Centre to amend the Juvenile Justice Act for excluding children committing heinous offences like rape and murder from its purview.
A bench of chief justice D Murugesan and justice VK jain will hear the PIL filed by one Shweta Kapoor. The PIL comes amid apprehension that one of the six accused in the Delhi gang rape case may get away with a lighter sentence as he is a minor.
Going by the Juvenile Justice Act provision, he will get a mere three months' punishment,
that too as confinement at a reformatory home and not the Tihar jail.
At the moment, both the Home Ministry and Women and Child Welfare ministry are deliberating on the issue of amendment following the public uproar. They have also included the states in their discussion.
Quoting a survey, the PIL said 67 per cent of all juvenile criminals arrested belong to the age group of 16 to 18 years and that there has been a 188 per cent rise in crimes committed by juveniles since 2001.