To what extent is the government of India effective in implementing the UNCRC objectives in its juvenile law system in Hyderabad?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international agreement ratified by 197 countries including India in the year 1992 (Vikaspedia domains) that uphold the rights entitled to every child. India is a signatory to the UNCRC that has made substantial progress towards implementing its goals in its juvenile justice system. Yet, the efficiency of the Indian government in achieving these goals in the city of Hyderabad remains debatable. Although India has been the epitome of growth, and development demonstrating drastic improvement in numerous sectors, loopholes remain, especially with concerns towards the safety and security of its citizens. The quality of safety provision and security is directly associated with the scale of criminal activity within the country, India’s substantially high crime rates rank it 71^st globally in 2023 with a crime index of 44.3 (World Population Review).

Expert criminologists argue that factors affecting these criminal activities surge from the economic, social, and demographic aspects - factors like inequality and development alongside urbanism are attributes of this national concern (Eisner).

A consequential factor affecting these crime rates is the nation's youth incentivized by unemployment, poverty, and poor education (Shuja), totalling up to approximately 5% of the country’s total crime rate in 2020. This data can be summarized as the total number of crimes committed in India during 2020 was 6,12,179 (“(“राष्ट्रीय अपराध रिकॉर्ड ब्यूरो”) out of which juvenile crime contributed to 29,768 cases. In the year 2021, these figures escalated to a summing total of 31,170 cases, demonstrating a 4.7% increase (Pushkarna, 2022). The number of criminal activities carried out by the youth within the state is appalling, these criminal activities may range from minor acts of theft and burglary to extreme criminal offences such as rape charges and murder. As the rate of criminal activities indicates incessant growth, concerns towards the sovereignty and legitimacy of the government arise. The term legitimacy is derived from the Latin word legitimus suggesting ‘just’ or ‘lawful’, an increase in national crime rate indicates a violation of the law and the inability to detain criminal behaviour makes the provision of justice challenging, ultimately threatening legitimacy (“Home”) and questioning the state’s governing ability. The book ‘Losing Legitimacy’ (1988), conceptualizes three key social institutes that encourage compliance with the law; family, economic, and political - the absence of a successful establishment of either or all of three institutions in terms of corruption, injustice and inactivity may result in infringing the national rule, resulting in loss of legitimacy (Eisner). In my engagement activity, I explore the extent to which India has been effective in implementing the UNCRC in its Juvenile Justice Law system to provide justice, encourage re-education and ensure a low crime rate.

My interest in this engagement activity sprouted when a repulsive case stormed the News headlines, the Gang-rape of a 17 - year-old girl involving four juveniles took place on May 28th 2022 in my city of residence, Hyderabad, and was reported in June (The Economic Times). The events of the crime deeply impacted me and those around me by evoking a sense of uneasiness and apprehension among a vast majority of the local population.

My engagement activity investigates the effectiveness of the local government in addressing concerns associated with juvenile law (Pushkarna et al.). My approach towards the issue comprises a range of contrasting perspectives on the government’s approach in attending to this socio-political local conflict. To develop a holistic understanding of the contribution of juvenile crime in overall national crime I gathered secondary data from national websites such as the National Crime Records Bureau, which enabled me to critically comprehend the exponential growth of juvenile crime rates and the most recurrent criminal activities committed. Additionally, I interviewed a UN worker to gain perspective into how IGOs monitor the efficiency of the government in addressing such matters. Lastly, I interviewed a judge which strengthened my understanding of the national legislation’s engagement concerning juvenile crime cases. This was significant in the verification process - which is the final stage of my engagement activity - in determining the effectiveness of the national legislative system with the UNCRC.

According to the UNCRC a ‘child’ is classified as any human being below the age of 18, this definition is universally acknowledged and legitimized, however, in India, this is a ductile idea, as the age of 18 emancipates the rights to drive and vote, although refrains access to alcoholic substances till reaching the age of 21. A similar ductile characterization of adulthood addressing the age factor is the gender-based discriminatory definition of a child, while the legal ‘maturity age’ for girls is avowed as 18 by the law, this classification extends to the age of 21 for boys (“Understanding Child Rights — Vikaspedia”). This links to the concept of cultural violence as traditional norms within a patriarchal society result in unrequired gender discrimination. Additionally, its roots are in national-level codification, which is considered ‘the most powerful means of codification’(Global Politics: Essential) as it can be prone to modification.

Universally this can be viewed as a violation of the UNCRC, as the state is prosecuting minors as adults against the fundamental law of the convention, however, post my informative conversation with a judge from a court in Bhopal, it can be concluded that India’s judiciary system may believe otherwise. Upon being questioned about her opinion on this age discrimination the judge stated ‘The Indian juvenile laws and age barriers are in the best interest of its citizens, with the further justification that “the male youth in India is more likely to be incentivised to commit crimes, while the girls have better judgement”, hence this law was put in order in 1929 under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the local authority within the nation-state has a constructive mindset on the conventional behaviour of girls and boys within the society. My learning from this engagement concluded that there is the presence of structural violence within the system as the denial of fundamental rights to justice results in inequality as the law is different to individuals based on gender. This is a result of excessive internal power within the nation comprising of a dominant central authority, allowing it to suspend or abuse universal human rights for its political purposes, this shows the ineffectiveness of the Indian government to implement the UNCRC as they possess the power to change the law within their jurisdiction exercising legitimacy as the government’s actions are being implemented.

For an entrenched overview of an effective juvenile justice system’s construct, I interviewed a member of the United Nations, Mr Deepak Kumar Dey, who provided me with insight into the anticipated implications of the UNCRC objectives into a nation’s legislation who has ratified the convention to ensure a fair juvenile justice system. Mr Dey cited ‘Implementation of UNCRC is obligatory if the country has signed it’. Additionally, he believes that ‘the environment of a child is largely an influencer of their behaviour without any fault of the child, as the accused may lack the mental maturity and understanding of the consequences. According to Article Section 15 of the 2015 Juvenile Justice amendment act, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) must examine three key components; the juvenile's competence to conduct such a crime (mental/physical); the ability to grasp the consequences of the offence committed; and the circumstances surrounding the criminal committed (Mathur). My interaction with Mr Dey summarized that India is unable to adhere to the objectives and conventions that are established by the United Nations because of national modification, high input legitimacy and lack of attention to juvenile justice facilities (ie. re-education centres, protection and attorneys).

The factors that influence the prosecution of crimes committed by minors consider both their mental and physical well-being, hence juveniles are advised to be trialled in a lenient manner. Mr Dey stated that ‘India’s juvenile correction homes are as ineffective as its the justice system, due to high levels of corruption and lack of government interest in the socio-political aspect’, which can be supported by India’s 85th rank on the corruption out of 180 countries (“India Corruption Rank - 2022 Data - 2023 Forecast - 1995 - 2021 Historical - Chart”). Building onto the idea of the ineffectiveness of the government, input legitimacy - The opportunity for meaningful participation by the governed in decision-making exists (i.e., legitimacy through inclusivity) ("Input legitimacy Definition") - is highly prevalent in the state’s system. The son of the MLA is the sole delinquent granted the right to prosecution as a minor whilst the remaining four are convicted as adults, the hierarchy of power enabled the son of a powerful authority to be free of prosecution, indicating corruption within the system, as well as lack of legitimacy.

To further investigate the effectiveness of juvenile justice law in India, I compared the justice system in India with Belgium; a country with distinctive cultural values than India. This expanded my understanding of India's effectiveness by comparing it with a state possessing a distinctive approach and value system; for example, both boys and girls are considered minors below the age of 18, however India, unlike Belgium, only prosecutes a minor as an adult when a heinous crime is committed, to reduce the incentive of the country’s crime rates. A key factor that differentiates Belgium’s legislation from India’s is the security of the juveniles, India raises serious threats to the well-being of minors within its correction centres, comprising of violence, torture, sexual abuse, and harassment by inmates violating human, children and prisoner rights. On the contrary, Belgium provides a secure and friendly environment for the re-education of minors along with assigning free attorneys to them during trials which are inconspicuous in India’s justice system, through my interview I can derive that this is due to economic constraints and a higher rate of unemployment. Belgium is relatively economically developed and hence can provide free attorneys, India as LMIC has a high rate of unemployment, suggesting it cannot afford to provide free legal services despite it being a rule of the legislation. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to develop, basic human needs must be met, however, Maslow ranks these needs in terms of importance assigning self-actualization as the top priority whilst the UNDHR claims ‘all rights are equal. The second stage of the hierarchy, which is safety needs must be fulfilled, which includes protection from violence emotional well-being, inclusive of health and financial security to attain esteem needs which is respect for others. Belgium is progressively ahead of India in terms of effective implementation of the UNCRC in its Juvenile Justice system (“A Guide to the 5 Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”) due to factors that have helped Belgium.

The ineffectiveness of the Indian government in implementing the UNCRC in its law system can be validated by its modification of the age-represented definition of a ‘child’, along with its inability to fulfil the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual offence), act 2012 summarized from my interaction with the UN representative. My initial verdict followed the idea that the Indian government, is relatively ineffective in its implementation of the UNCRC, my engagements further supported my hypothesis, highlighting that the government must act under the conventions of the right of the child.

The interdependency of human rights suggests that the successful protection of one means right means protection of all rights, similarly, the denial/violation of one may pose a threat to the effective protection of others' rights, hence if one right such as the definition of a ‘child’ is violated or modified within the state then the protection of other rights such as the right to life (Article 3), free & equal (Article 1) and Equal before the law (Article 7) are difficult to protect since the rule of law is being violated.

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