 bill no 124 of 2005 the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) amendment bill, 2005 a billto amend the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000be it enacted by parliament in the fifty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1  this act may be called the juvenile justice (care and protection of children)amendment act, 200556 of 2000amendment of long title2  in the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000 (hereinafterreferred to as the principal act), in the long title, for the words "through various institutions established under this enactment", the words "and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto" shall be substitutedamendment of section 13  in section 1 of the principal act,—(i) in the marginal heading, for the words "and commencement", the words", commencement and application" shall be substituted; (ii) after sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—"(4) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the provisions of this act shall apply to all cases involving detention, prosecution or sentence of imprisonment of juveniles under any such law"4  in section 2 of the principal act,—amendment of section 2(i) for clause (l), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—'(l) "juvenile in conflict with law" means a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence and has not completed eighteenth year of age as on the date of commission of such offence;'; (ii) clause (m) shall be omitted5  throughout the principal act, the words "local authority", "or local authority" and"or the local authority", wherever they occur, shall be omittedomission of certain expressions6  after section 7 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 7aprocedure to be followed when claim of juvenility is raised before any court"7a (1) whenever a claim of juvenility is raised before any court or a court is of the opinion that an accused person produced before it was a juvenile on the date of commission of the offence, the court shall make an inquiry, take such evidence as may be necessary (but not an affidavit) so as to determine the age of such person, and shall record a finding whether the person is a juvenile or a child or not, stating his age as nearly as may be:provided that a claim of juvenility may be raised before any court and it shall be recognised at any stage even after disposal of the case in terms of the provisions contained in this act and the rules made thereunder(2) if the court finds a person to be a juvenile on the date of commission of the offence, it shall forward the juvenile to the board"amendment of section 107  in section 10 of the principal act, for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(1) as soon as a juvenile in conflict with law is apprehended by police, he shall be placed under the charge of the special juvenile police unit or the designated police officer, who shall produce the juvenile before the board without any loss of time but within a period of twenty-four hours of his apprehension excluding the time necessary for the journey, from the place where the juvenile was apprehended, to the board"amendment of section 128  in section 12 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), after the words "with or without surety", the words "or placed under the care of any fit institution" shall be insertedamendment of section 159  in section 15 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), for clause (g), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—"(g) make an order directing the juvenile to be sent to a special home for a period of three years or until he ceases to be a juvenile, whichever is later :provided that the board may, if it is satisfied that having regard to the nature of the offence and the circumstances of the case it is expedient so to do, for reasons to be recorded, reduce the period of stay to such period as it thinks fit"amendment of section 1610  in section 16 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:— "provided that the period of detention so ordered shall not exceed in any case the maximum period provided under section 15"11  in section 20 of the principal act, the following shall be inserted, namely:—amendment of section 20"provided that the board may, for any adequate and special reason to be mentioned in the order, review the case and pass appropriate order in the interest of such juvenileexplanation— in all pending cases in respect of a juvenile in conflict with law, in any court, the determination of juvenility of such a juvenile shall be in terms of clause (l) of section 2, even if the juvenile ceases to be so on or before the date of commencement of this act and the provisions of this act shall apply as if the said provisions had been in force, for all purposes and at all material times when the alleged offence was committed"12  for section 21 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely :—substitution of new section for section 21"21 (1) no report in any newspaper, magazine, news-sheet or visual media of any inquiry regarding a juvenile in conflict with law or a child in need of care and protection under this act shall disclose the name, address or school or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of the juvenile or child nor shall any picture of any such juvenile or child be published:prohibition of publication of name, etc, of juvenile or child in need of care and protection involved in any proceeding under the actprovided that for reasons to be recorded in writing, the authority holding the inquiry may permit such disclosure, if in its opinion such disclosure is in the interest of the juvenile or the child(2)  any person who contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1), shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to one thousand rupees"13  in section 32 of the principal act,—amendment of section 32(a) in sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted at the end, namely:—"provided that the child shall be produced before the committee without any loss of time but within a period of twenty-four hours excluding the time necessary for the journey"; (b) in sub-section (2), the words "to the police and" shall be omitted14  in section 33 of the principal act,—amendment of section 33(a) in sub-section (1), the words "or any police officer or special juvenile police unit or the designated police officer" shall be omitted;(b) for sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(3) after the completion of the inquiry, if, the committee is of the opinion that the said child has no family or ostensible support or is in continued need of care and protection, it may allow the child to remain in the children's home or shelter home till suitable rehabilitation is found for him or till he attains the age of eighteen years"amendment of section 3915  in section 39 of the principal act, for the explanation, the following explanation shall be substituted, namely:—'explanation— for the purposes of this section "restoration of and protection of a child" means restoration to—(a) parents; (b) adopted parents; (c) foster parents; (d) guardian; (e) fit person; or (f) fit institution'16  in section 41 of the principal act,—amendment of section 41(i) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely :—"(2) adoption shall be resorted to through such mechanism as may be prescribed for the rehabilitation of the children who are orphaned, abandoned, neglected and abused";(ii) for sub-section (6), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(6) the board may allow a child to be given in adoption—(a) to a single parent; (b) to parents to adopt a child of same sex irrespective of the number of living biological sons or daughters; or(c) to childless parents";(iii) after sub-section (6), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:— "(7) no adoption under this section shall be allowed unless the child and the parents are the citizens of india"17  for section 57 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely :—substitution of new section for section 57"57 the state government may direct any child or the juvenile to be transferred from any children's home or special home within the state to any other children's home, special home or institution of a like nature with the prior intimation to the committee or the board, as the case may be, and such order shall be deemed to be operative for the competent authority of the area to which the child or the juvenile is sent"transfer between children's homes, under the act, and juvenile homes of like nature within the state amendment of section 59 18  in section 59 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), for the words "for maximum seven days", the words "for a period generally not exceeding seven days" shall be substituted19  in section 64 of the principal act, the following shall be inserted, namely:—amendment of section 64"provided that the state government or as the case may be, the board may, for any adequate and special reason to be recorded in writing, review the case of a juvenile undergoing such sentence, who has ceased to be so on or before the commencement of this act, and pass appropriate order in the interest of such juvenileexplanation—in all cases where a juvenile in conflict with law is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment at any stage on the date of commencement of this act, his case including the issue of juvenility, shall be deemed to be decided in terms of the provisions contained in this act and the rules made thereunder, irrespective of the fact that he ceases to be a juvenile on or before such date and accordingly he shall be sent to the special home or a fit institution, as the case may be, for the remainder of the period of the sentence"20  in section 68 of the principal act,—amendment of section 68(a) in sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—"provided that the central government may, frame model rules in respect of all or any of the matters with respect to which the state government may make rules under this section, and where any such model rules have been framed in respect of any such matter, they shall apply to the state until the rules in respect of that matter is made by the state government and while making any such rules, so far as is practicable, they conform to such model rules"; (b) in sub-section (2), after clause (xii), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(xiia) rehabilitation mechanism to be resorted to in adoption under subsection (2) of section 41;";(c) sub-section (3) shall be renumbered as sub-section (4) thereof, as before sub-section (4) as so re-numbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted namely:—"(3) every rule made by the central government under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000 (the juvenile justice act) was brought into force on 1st april, 2001 the juvenile justice act  was aimed  at providing a juvenile justice system for juveniles in conflict with  law and children in need of care and protection by adopting a child friendly approach in the adjudication and disposition of matters in the best interests of children and for their rehabilitation keeping in view the developmental needs of the children2 in a public interest litigation (civil writ petition no 3447 of 2001) certain provisions of the juvenile justice act were challenged before the  high court of  delhi during the course of hearings, the high court observed that some of the provisions of the juvenile justice  act merited re-consideration keeping in view these observations, it was proposed to carry out amendments in sections 32, 33, 56, 57 and 59 of the juvenile justice act accordingly, an amendment bill  was introduced in the lok sabha on 24-7-2003 meanwhile, taking cognizance of the said bill, the high court of delhi disposed of the above said civil writ petition on 28-7-2003 the lok sabha referred the said bill to the parliamentary standing committee on labour and welfare for examination and report before the standing committee submitted its report to the lok sabha, the lok sabha was dissolved and the said bill lapsed3 thereafter, before re-introducing a fresh amendment bill the government considered it necessary to revisit the amendment proposals again along with other suggestions received by the standing committee from various experts in the process, further consultations were held and suggestions/views of all concerned were obtained based upon these consultations, it is proposed to make amendments in other provisions of the juvenile justice act in addition to those contained in the earlier bill  modifications proposed in the bill, inter alia, intend—(i) to modify the long title of the juvenile justice act so as to convey a wider scope of rehabilitation of child in need of care and protection or a juvenile in conflict with law under the act through not only institutional but also non-institutional approach;(ii) to clarify that the juvenile justice act shall apply to all cases involving detention or criminal prosecution of  juveniles under any other law;(iii) to remove doubts regarding the relevant date in determining the juvenility of a person and applicability of the juvenile justice act;(iv) exclusion of the local authority from the provisions authorising them to discharge or transfer a child in need of care and protection or a juvenile from the children's home or special home or for sending a juvenile in conflict with law undergoing imprisonment, to a special home or a fit institution;(v) to have a procedure laid down where claim of juvenility is raised before any court;(vi)  to have a minimum period of twenty-four hours, excluding the time necessary for the journey  from the place  where the juvenile in conflict with law was apprehended, within which he should be produced before the board and a similar provision with regard to production of a child before the child welfare committee;(vii) to provide for alternatives to detention in the observation home to achieve the intention of the juvenile justice act;(viii)  to do away with the association of any police officer from the inquiry process, for the child in need of care and protection as the work is assigned to the child welfare committee and to cover other cases where the child can remain in children/shelter home after completion of enquiry;(ix) to extend the scope of adoption  of a child to childless parents and to limit the same under the juvenile justice act to citizens of india only;(x) to provide for a flexible period of leave that may be given to child on special occasions like examination, marriage of relatives, death of kith and kin or accident or serious illness of parent or any emergency of the like nature;(xi) to ensure the applicability of model rules framed by the central government in the states/union territories who have not made their own rules, till the rules are framed in this regard by the respective states/union territories 4 this bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesmeira  kumarnew delhi;the 23rd august, 2005 memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationunder clause 20 of  the bill the central government may frame model rules in respect of all or any of the matters with respect to which the state government may make rules under the provision of section 68 of the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000 the model rules framed by the central government shall apply to the states until  the rules in this regard are made by them and while making such rules, so far as is practicable, they will conform to such model rules the made rules shall be required to be laid before each house of parliamentclause 16 (i) authorises the state government to frame rules to provide for rehabilitation mechanism to be resorted to in adoption under sub-section (2) of section 41 of the said  actthe matters with respect to which the said rules may be made are matters of procedure or administrative detail and it may not be possible to provide for them in the  amendment bill itselfin context of the circumstances as explained above, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character annexure extracts rrom the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000 (56 of 2000)an  act  to  consolidate and amend the law relating  to  juveniles  in conflict  with  law and children in need of care and  protection,  by providing  for  proper care, protection and treatment by  catering  to their  development needs, and by adopting a child-friendly approach in the  adjudication  and disposition of matters in the best interest  of children  and  for their ultimate  rehabilitation  through  various institutions established under this enactment                                                                                                                     chapter  i preliminary1 (1) this act may be  called the juvenile justice (care and protection of children)act, 2000short title, extent and commencement (2)  it  extends to the whole of india except the state of  jammu  and kashmir (3)  it  shall come into force on such date as the central  government  may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions  2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—                                                                                                                      (l) "juvenile in conflict with law" means a juvenile who is alleged to  have committed an offence; (m)  "local  authority"  means  panchayats at  the  village  and  zila  parishad  at the  district level and shall also include  a  municipal  committee  or  corporation  or a cantonment board or such  other  body  legally entitled to function as local authority by the government;                                                                                                                        10  (1) as soon as  a  juvenile  in  conflict with law is apprehended by police, he shall be placed  under  the charge of the special juvenile police unit  or  the designated police officer who shall immediately report the matter to a member of the boardapprehension of juvenile in conflict with law                                                                                                                    bail  of juvenile2 of 1974  12 (1) when any person accused of a bailable  or  non-bailable  offence,  andapparently  a  juvenile,  is  arrested  or  detained  or appears or is brought before a board, such person  shall,  notwithstanding  anything contained in the code of criminal procedure,  1973 or in any other law for the time being in force,  be released  on  bail  with  or without surety but he  shall  not  be  so  released  if  there appear reasonable grounds for believing  that  the release  is  likely  to  bring him into association  with  any  known  criminal  or expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger  or  that his release would defeat the ends of justice  15 (1) where a board is  satisfied  on inquiry that a juvenile has committed an offence,  then,  notwithstanding  anything  to the contrary contained in any other  law  for the time being in force, the board may, if it thinks so fit,—order that may be passed regarding juvenile (a) allow the juvenile to go home after advice or admonition following appropriateinquiry  against  and counselling to the  parent  or  the  guardian and the juvenile;(b)  direct  the  juvenile  to participate in  group  counselling  and similar activities; (c) order the juvenile to perform community service; (d)  order the parent of the juvenile or the juvenile himself to pay a  fine, if he isover fourteen years of age and earns money;(e)  direct  the juvenile to be released on probation of good  conduct and placed under the care of any parent, guardian or other fit person,  on such parent, guardian or other fit person executing a bond, with or  without  surety,  as the board may require, for the good behaviour  and  well-being of the juvenile for any period not exceeding three years;(f) direct  the juvenile to be released on probation of good  conduct  and  placed under  the  care  of any fit  institution  for  the  good  behaviour  and well-being of the juvenile for any period not exceeding three years;(g) make  an  order directing the juvenile to be sent  to  a  special  home,—(i)  in  the  case  of juvenile, over seventeen years  but  less  than  eighteen years of age for a period of not less than two years;(ii)  in case of any other juvenile for the period until he ceases  to  be a juvenile:provided  that the board may, if it is satisfied that having regard to  the  nature  of  the offence and the circumstances of the case  it  is  expedient  so to do, for reasons to be recorded, reduce the period  of  stay to such period as it thinks fit(2)  on  receipt of a report from a board under sub-section  (1),  the  state government may make such arrangement in respect of the juvenile  as  it  deems  proper  and may order such juvenile to  be  kept  under  protective  custody at such place and on such conditions as it  thinks  fit:provided that the period of detention so ordered shall not exceed the  maximum period of imprisonment to which the juvenile could have  been  sentenced for the offence committedspecial provision in respect of pending  cases20 notwithstanding anything  contained  in  this  act, all proceedings in  respect  of a  juvenile  pending  in any court in any area on the date on which  this  act  comes into force in that area, shall be continued in that court as  if  this  act  had  not been passed and if the court  finds  that  the  juvenile  has  committed an offence, it shall record such finding  and instead  of  passing any sentence in respect of the juvenile,  forward  the  juvenile to the board which shall pass orders in respect of  that  juvenile  in  accordance with the provisions of this act as if it  had  been satisfied on inquiry under this act that a juvenile has committed the offence 21 (1)  no  report  in  any  newspaper,  magazine,  news-sheet  or  visual  media of any inquiry  regarding  a  juvenile  in conflict with law under this act shall disclose the  name, address  or school or any other particulars calculated to lead to  the  identification  of  the juvenile nor shall any picture  of  any  such juvenile be published:prohibition of publication of name, etc, of juvenile involved in any proceeding under the actprovided  that  for  reasons to be recorded in writing  the  authority holding the inquirymay permit such disclosure, if in its opinion such disclosure is in the interest of the juvenile(2) any person contravening the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine, which may extend to one thousand rupees32  (1) any child in need of care  and  protection  may  be  produced  before  the committee  by  one  of  the  following persons—production before committee(i) any police officer or special juvenile police unit or a designated  police officer; (ii) any public servant; (iii) childline, a registered voluntary organisation or by such other  voluntary organisation or an agency as may be recognised by the state  government;(iv) any social worker or a public spirited citizen authorised by the  state government;  or(v) by the child himself(2) the state government may make rules consistent with this act  to  provide for the manner of making the report to the police and to  the  committee  and  the manner of sending and entrusting  the  child  to  children's home pending the inquiryinquiry33 (1)  on  receipt  of a report  under  section  32,  the committee or any police officer or special juvenile police unit or the designated  police  officer  shall hold an inquiry in  the prescribed manner and the committee, on its own or on the report from any person  or agency as mentioned in sub-section (1) of section 32, may pass  an  order to send the child to the children's home for speedy inquiry by a  social  worker or child welfare officer(3) after  the completion of the inquiry if the committee is  of  the  opinion  that  the said child has no family or ostensible support,  it  may  allow the child to remain in the children's home or shelter  home  till  suitable rehabilitation is found for him or till he attains  the  age of eighteen yearsrestoration39 (1) restoration of and protection to a child  shall  be the prime objective of any children's home or the shelter home(2)  the children's home or a shelter home, as the case may be,  shall  take such steps as are considered necessary for the restoration of and  protection  to a child deprived of his family environment  temporarily  or  permanently where such child is under the care and protection of  a  children's home or a shelter home, as the case may be(3)  the committee shall have the powers to restore any child in  need  of  care  and protection to his parent, guardian, fit person  or  fit  institution, as the case may be, and give them suitable directionsexplanation—for  the purposes of this section "restoration of  child"  means restoration to—(a) parents; (b) adopted parents; (c) foster parents                                                                                                                    adoption41 (1)                                                                                                          (2)  adoption  shall  be resorted to for the  rehabilitation  of  such  children  as  are orphaned, abandoned, neglected and  abused  through  institutional and non-institutional methods                                                                                                                    (6) the board may allow a child to be given in adoption—(a) to a single parent, and (b) to parents to adopt a child of same sex irrespecitve of the number of living biological sons or daughterspower  of competent authority  to discharge and transfer juvenile or child56 the  competent  authority  or   the  local  authority  may,  notwithstanding  anything contained in this act, at any time, order  a  child  in  need of care and protection or a juvenile in conflict  with  law  to  be  discharged  or transferred from one  children's  home  or  special home to another, as the case may be, keeping in view the best  interest  of the child or the juvenile, and his natural place of stay,  either absolutely or on such condition as it may think fit to impose:provided that the total period of stay of the juvenile or the child in  a  children's  home or a special home or a fit institution or under  a  fit person shall not be increased by such transfer57 the  state  government or the local authority may direct any child or the juvenile  to be transferred from any children's home or special home outside the state  to any other children's home, special home or institution of  a  like  nature  with the prior intimation to the local committee or  the  board,  as  the  case  may be, and such order shall be  deemed  to  be operative  for the competent authority of the area to which the  child  or the juvenile is senttransfer between children's 'homes,  under that  act,  and juvenile homes, of like nature in different parts of india59 (1)                                                                                                          release and absence of juvenile or child on placement(2) the  competent authority may also permit leave of absence to  any  juvenile  or  thechild,  to allow him,  on  special  occasions  like  examination,  marriage  of  relatives, death of kith and  kin  or  the  accident  or serious illness of parent or any emergency of like nature,  to go  on leave under supervision, for maximum seven days,  excluding  the time taken in journey                                                                                                                    juvenile  in conflict with law undergoing sentence at commencement of this act64  in any area in which this act is brought into force, the  state  government or the local authority may direct that a juvenile in  conflict  with  law who is undergoing any sentence of imprisonment  at  the  commencement  of  this  act, shall, in lieu  of  undergoing such  sentence,  be sent to a special home or be kept in fit institution  in  such  manner as the state government or the local authority thinks fit  for  the remainder of the period of the sentence;  and the  provisions of  this act shall apply to the juvenile as if he had been ordered by  the  board  to be sent to such special home or institution or, as  the  case  may  be,  ordered to  be   kept  under  protective  care  under  sub-section (2) of section 16 of this act                                                                                                                    power to make rules68 (1)   the  state  government  may,   by  notification  in  the  official gazette, make rules to carry  out  the  purposes of this act(2)  in  particular,  and without prejudice to the generality  of  the  foregoing  powers, such  rules  may provide for all  or  any  of  the  following matters,  namely:—                                                                                                                    ————— a billto amend the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2000—————(smt meira kumar, minister of social justice and empowerment)