Gujarat High Court Reiterates Assessment Method For Juvenile Offenders To Be Tried As Adults, Says Their Status As 'Child' Not Disturbed

The Gujarat High Court recently invalidated the decision of a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Vadodara directing a child in conflict with law, booked under various provisions of the IPC and the Arms Act, to be tried as an adult.In a 131-page judgment, Justice Gita Gopi reiterated the procedures to be followed while assessing such a child under Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.According to the FIR, the accused had allegedly entered the complainant's house, committed dacoity, and threatened the complainant with dire consequences after looting gold and silver jewellery, along with cash amounting to approximately Rs 16.90 lakh.Justice Gita Gopi heavily relied on the precedent set in Barun Chandra Thakur vs. Master Bholu & Anr (2022), whereby the Supreme Court had emphasised the importance of formulating guidelines to aid the Juvenile Justice Board in making preliminary assessments under Section 15 of the JJ Act and emphasized the importance of considering various factors, such as the child's physical development, cognitive abilities, as well as their social and emotional competencies when determining whether to treat a child as an adult. The High Court noted that the term 'preliminary assessment into heinous offenses by the Board,' as used in Section 15 of the JJ Act, imposes a duty on the Board to make a decision regarding whether it is necessary to try the child as an adult. The Court further noted that according to Section 18(3) of the JJ Act, the Board is obligated to transfer the case to the Children's Court with jurisdiction to try such offenses when such a need is established.The court emphasized that assessing the mental capacity and comprehension of the consequences of an offense by an adolescent in conflict with the law is a critical aspect of the initial evaluation mandated by section 15 of the JJ Act.“This evaluation of ‘mental capacity and ability to understand the consequences’ of the child in conflict with law can, in no way, be relegated to the status of a perfunctory and a routine task. The process of taking a decision on which the fate of the child in conflict with law precariously rests, should not be taken without conducting a meticulous psychological evaluation,” the court further emphasized.Additionally, the court reiterated that the authority to conduct this preliminary assessment is vested in both the JJB under section 15 and the Children's Court under section 19.The Court clarified that this preliminary assessment is not intended to consider the child as an adult but rather to determine whether the child should be tried as an adult in a specialized Children's Court with jurisdiction over such offenses.“The trial of the said child in conflict with law is sent to the Children’s Court, where the Children’s Court has to exercise its powers as granted under section 19 of the J.J. Act. The fact that the trial of the child in conflict with law is sent to the Children’s Court, is with the significance, that the said child does not leave his status as that of the child, since his trial is conducted in the Children’s Court,” the Court added.Furthermore, the court pointed out that the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has developed guidelines, following directions from the Supreme Court developed in consultation with experts and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs), to ensure that the JJBs can conduct the preliminary assessment in line with the guiding principles and provisions of the Act. The court also noted that the preliminary assessment should take into account four key determinants: the physical capacity of the child to commit alleged offence; the mental capacity of the child to commit alleged offence; the circumstances in which the child allegedly committed the offence; and the ability to understand the consequences of the offence. The Court explained that the preliminary assessment is not a trial, but it is conducted to assess the capacity of child in conflict with law to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged offence. The Court said that while making a preliminary assessment, the JJ Board and the Children’s Court has to specifically deal with all four determinants by assigning reasons to explain the capacity of such child to commit offence. The Court also said that the facts of the case must be dealt with to understand the circumstances in which the child allegedly committed the offence and the circumstances to be referred are not merely the immediate circumstances of the offence itself, but also other cumulative circumstances which led to the immediate circumstances related to a long period occurring in the child’s life, and finally the ability to understand the consequence of the offence. The Court clarified that the preliminary assessment is not a trial but is an exercise to assess the child’s capacity to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged crime, therefore, the Board must be very careful...

Gujarat High Court Reiterates Assessment Method For Juvenile Offenders To Be Tried As Adults, Says Their Status As 'Child' Not Disturbed

Bhavya Singh

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