CHILD RIGHTS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: NEED FOR LAW REFORM crime, can be tried like an adult. For this, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) would do a preliminary assessment to assess the child’s physical and mental capacities, his/her ability to comprehend the consequences of the crime, etc. and determine whether the child can be treated as an adult. So a child is forced out from the ‘specialised juvenile justice system’ into the adult criminal justice system on the basis of the ‘preliminary assessment’. 4. Violation of Rights of the Child during Preliminary Assessment JJ Act, 2015, permits trying of juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 years as adults for heinous offences.16 As per Sec. 15(1) of the Act, the Juvenile Justice Board is to make the preliminary assessment on four aspects: one, mental capacity of the child in conflict with law to commit the heinous offence. The Juvenile Justice Board is given the option to transfer cases of heinous offences by such children to a children’s court (or designated court of sessions) after conducting preliminary assessment.17 The Act provides for placing such children in a ‘place of safety’ both during and after the trial till they attain the age of 21, after which his/her evaluation shall be conducted by the children’s court. It empowers JJB to examine the nature of crime and decide whether it was committed as a child mind or as an adult mind. Based upon the preliminary inquiry of JJB, the child offender will either be dealt as a child under JJ Act and sent for rehabilitation or will be tried as an ‘adult’. After he is 21 years, an evaluation is done. After this evaluation he/she is either released on probation and if not ‘reformed’, he/she will be sent to a jail for the remaining term.18 In practice, the experiences of civil society organisations working with children is that these children in CICL are unable to completely comprehend nor participate in their inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board. Children are not able to comprehend nor respond to questions put to them at the Section 313 CrPC 19 at the statement stage, resulting in selfincrimination. Children are so scared when they come before the system as they do not know what is going to happen to them. They are generally manipulated by functionaries of the 16 17 18 19 Section 19 of the JJ Act, 2015. Section 18(3) of the JJ Act, 2015 Where the Board after preliminary assessment under Section 15 pass an order that there is a need for trial of the said child as an adult, then the Board may order transfer of the trial of the case to the Children’s Court having jurisdiction to try such offences. Bajpai, Asha, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy and Practice, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, India, Criminal Procedure Code Sec. 313 51