SC seeks Centre’s response on plea challenging amendment to Juvenile Justice Act

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday sought a response from the Centre to a plea challenging the recent amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 by which certain categories of offences against children have been made non-cognizable.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli issued notice to the Ministry of Women and Child Development and sought its reply.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights challenging the amendment made to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015  which categorise certain offences committed against children to be non-cognizable.

The plea has challenged Section 26 of the amended act which classifies offences punishable with imprisonment for a term of three years and above but not more than seven years as non-cognizable. According to the amended law, serious offences will include those for which maximum punishment is more than seven years imprisonment.

Cognizable offences are a category of crimes in which police can arrest a person without a warrant, while non-cognizable offences are those in which it can execute an arrest only with a warrant from court. The petition stated that the amendment has resulted in denuding police of the power to investigate and arrest juvenile offenders.