SC upholds differential treatment to minors

New Delhi, July 17: The Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the Juvenile Justice Act providing for differential treatment to a minor irrespective of the nature of crime committed by him or her.

The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir upheld the Juvenile Justice Act by declining the prayer that the age in the act should be reduced from 18 to 16 and those involved in heinous crimes should not be treated differently.

The petitioner had also sought that the punishment for heinous crime committed by a minor should not be decided by the Juvenile Justice Board.

Rejecting the petition, Chief Justice Kabir said here was no need to interfere in the matter.

The petition was filed in the context of a minor who was among those who were arrested for the gangrape, brutal assault and torture of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in Delhi Dec 16 last year. She later died in a Singapore hospital Dec 29.

IANS