Age is only a number
Age has never been an impediment
to achievements constructive or illegal, be it Ankit Fadia who at fifteen wrote
a book on hacking, or our little juvenile friend basking in the glory of having
been declared a juvenile and therefore not prone to the legal system of the
country.
This juvenile was reported to be
the most brutal of them all in the brutal rape and murder of a medical student
in Delhi last December. But today he has been left off by the juvenile court
trying him for his deeds with a gentle reprimand of 3 years in a special
observatory home for juveniles hoping that he will be reformed.
Society is enraged at his
judgement and would like the juvenile to face the law in equal proportion to
his crime. When I look around me in society I find the younger lot more forthright,
crisp and blatant while being confident with their actions that point to a
matured mind. When we were young, we were more introverts, morally confined
within the space set by society, forbearing, less forthwith and generally
noncommittal and unsure of ourselves.
Probably that is why there is
serious discussion going on about lowering the age for juveniles. It is time
this age is bridged according to the maturity levels in the youth of today.
When the age for consensual sex is sixteen, when they can stand up in rallies
for their cause, when they can be sexually active without restraint there is no
reason to consider them as juveniles.
Some say that the juvenile act
was framed keeping view the general trend in society and that is why the above
explanation should suffice, because the young are maturing fast at a faster
rate added reason why the juvenile age should be brought down. Others say that
in the justice system there should be a repentance and rehabilitation process
so that the culprits come out as a new entity worthy to be assimilated into
society.
Criminals are not born but made
and the growth of a criminal starts during his younger days. Once hardened he
loses all sense of purpose to life and is committed to rebel in society without
so much as bat an eyelid. Again the progress of these criminals beyond a
certain hardened stage makes them beyond redemption. No amount of cajoling or
soft measures will do the job and they act as a tiger that has tasted blood.
Therefore it is useless to suggest that these kinds of hardened offenders will
repent and reform.
Last week the newspapers reported
a band of disgruntled boys in the juvenile homes who kept the police and
administration at bay by hurling stones at them when the authorities came to
discipline them having received a complaint from the hostel warden that they
had turned unruly and was destroying asset in the home. They kept up a
continuous barrage of stone throwing and abuses that made it difficult for the
police to round them up. All of them knew that they were designated juveniles
and therefore the law of the land did not allow for punishment in spite of all
their misdeeds and rampage in society. They enjoyed themselves at the expense
of the state and society, a society which rules on trends and not provide for
exceptions.
It is high time society and law
makers put pressure to change the law to incorporate punishment in proportion
to the crime irrespective of the age of the offender, because one who is old enough
to commit a crime should be old enough to face up to the consequences.
Otherwise we will be left with people of the kind who were battling the cops
under protection of the law and society will be all the poorer for not having
applied our mind.
Robin Varghese
31st August 2013
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