Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 1: In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Farooq Khan (prersently Administrator Lakshadweep) seeking quashment of the provision of Juvenile Justice Act regarding age of juvenility, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal has directed the Government to consider reduction of age of juvenile from 18 years to 16 years.
After hearing Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi with Advocates Veenu Gupta and Sumit Nayyar for the PIL, the DB directed the State Government to consider the issue of amending the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, in so far as it pertains to the reduction of age of juvenile from 18 years to 16 years in the light of the submissions made in the writ petition as well as in the context of prevalent condition in the society as well as other relevant factors within a period of three months.
In the petition, prayer was made for declaration of provisions of Section 2(M), 2(N), Section 21 the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013 as ultra-vires and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and also sought directions to the State to confine the age of juvenility to 16 years as was the case before passing of the amended legislation and to effectively consider creating of classes/categories of cases where the benefit of juvenility is to be given under the provisions of the J&K Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013 to the persons who are above 14 and less than 16 years of age.
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