In India Six Year old Shoots Sister and Media Shoots Juvenile Justice Act

Media in India has splashed all over the news that a named six year old boy shot dead his named three year old sister in a named vilage in Durg district of Chhattisgarh state.

In India, this is not the first time media has taken the law of the land for a ride in such instances. While reporting Gurgaon Euro International School shooting, eight year old Bihar child serial killer, Satna School killing etc media had a free for all disclosure of the juveniles involved in the incident.

The legal position in this context as follows: Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (56 of 2000) as amended by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2006 (33 of 2006)., states that: “Prohibition of publication of name, etc., of juvenile or child in need of care and protection involved in any proceeding under the Act-(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 shall nor shall any picture of any such juvenile or child shall be published: Provided that for any reason 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 twenty-five thousand rupees”.

Its high time, media matures in reporting news about juvenile in conflict with law.

About Arjun Natarajan: I attach immense importance to the rule of law and the right to fair trial, with special emphasis as regards juveniles in conflict with law and I am a proud student of V.M. Salgaocar College of Law (VMSCL) Goa http://www.vmslaw.edu/ which has been taking great strides in improving the quality of legal education in India.

Arjun Natarajan
Final Year Law Student
VM salgaocar College of Law (VMSCL)
Miramar, Goa 403001
arjun.vmslaw@gmail.com
http://www.vmslaw.edu/

The Education at VMSCL is not limited to imparting of legal knowledge to the students on various legal subjects but includes a kind of legal training which could enable the students to develop the capacity for rational thinking, articulation, presentation of arguments and sensitivity to the social needs. VMSCL has one of the best libraries which any law college can possess. In fact VMSCL had the option of being one of the National Law Schools but considering the steep fees charged by the National Law Schools, the benovalent Salgaocars decided to retain its identity by maintaining a reasonable and affordable fees structure.

This release was published on openPR.