Preliminary Assessment of Children in Conflict with Law (Juvenile Justice Act, 2021)

Preliminary Assessment of Child in Conflict with Law (Juvenile Justice Act, 2021)

Form can be downloaded from - https://www.nimhanschildproject.in/wp...

For doing Preliminary Assessment there is a basic condition to be full filled. Conditions are mention as under

1. A juvenile has completed the age of 16 years.

2. A juvenile has alleged to commit a Heinous offence.

Now question come to our mind that what is a heinous offence. The Said definition is defined under the act in section 2(33).

2(33) "heinous offences" includes the offences for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more;"

JJ board has to do preliminary assessment in regards to:-

[i] the mental and physical capacity of the child to commit the offence.

[ii] the ability of the child to understand the consequences of the offence; and

[iii] the circumstances in which the child allegedly committed the offence.

Now the board has to do preliminary assessment keep above factor in mind. To come out with the conclusion board may take the assistance of experienced psychologists or psycho-social workers or other experts. Board can refer the juvenile to Psychologist or psycho-social worker or other expert depending on the fact of the case. Board has to find out whether child is capable of doing crime or he has knowledge of consequences of it and under which circumstances he has done this. After considering the report of all the expert board has to pass order whether the juvenile is treated as an adult or child. Keeping in mind that the Preliminary assessment is not a trial.

Sec 15 of the JJ Act 2021

15. Preliminary assessment into heinous offences by Board.-

(1) In case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a child, who has completed or is above the age of sixteen years, the Board shall conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence, and may pass an order in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 18

For preliminary assessment, the Board may take the assistance of experienced psychiatrist or psychologists or psycho-social workers or other experts.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, it is clarified that preliminary assessment is not a trial, but is to assess the capacity of such child to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged offence.

(2) Where the Board is satisfied on preliminary assessment that the matter should be disposed of by the Board, then the Board shall follow the procedure, as far as may be, for trial in summons case under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974): Provided that the order of the Board to dispose of the matter shall be appealable under sub-section (2) of section 101: Provided further that the assessment under this section shall be completed within the period specified in section 14.

The preliminary assessment is a barrier and it in safeguard for the juvenile. Because in the act Every child is presumed to be innocent. Moreover, this provision is also consonances with victimology because if the crime is very heinous then juvenile may be treated as an adult and transfer to children court where he will get the imprisonment as per the Section -21 of the JJ Act-2015.

It is crucial for us to see that the Act has been meant for the ‘protection and care of children’, as the very name suggests. However, trying a child as an adult will not only be derogatory towards the mental health of that child but, is also defeats the very aim of enacting this Law. If the Act expressly mentions that children are ones who are below 18 and all children are by default devoid of any mala fide or criminal intentions, there is no scope left to conduct a preliminary assessment and then treat a child ‘accordingly’.