NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 that gives powers to the Juvenile Justice Board to decide if a juvenile above 16 years, involved in heinous crimes like rape, would be tried in an adult court.

Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi had told Parliament that the new Bill aimed to act as a deterrent for juvenile offenders committing heinous crimes and protect the victims’ rights.The new Bill comes in the backdrop of outrage after a minor convicted in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case was handed a three-year term in a reform home. Activists, however, have criticized the move saying that India moved from penal law to reformative law by repealing the 1989 JJ Act and enacting the JJ Act 2000. Lowering the age or having any provision to deviate children from the juvenile justice system to criminal justice system is not acceptable, said activists.However, the Bill lays down that in no case a juvenile involved in a heinous crime will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment either when tried under the provisions of JJ Act or under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.Some of the new provisions involve children in conflict zones. Recruiting child soldiers by militant groups is an offence in the new Bill, punishable with up to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment or Rs 5 lakh fine or both.Besides, the draft widens the definition of corporal punishment by including physical and verbal abuse. The draft Bill proposes stringent punishment for those who subject “a child to corporal punishment causing hurt and emotional distress for the child”.If the offender is an employee of an institution dealing with children, he can be dismissed from service for repeat offence. Even the management of such institution can be sentenced to up to three-year jail and Rs 1 lakh fine for non-compliance or non-cooperation in any probe.Ragging of students within or outside an institution is punishable by up to three years in jail and up to Rs 1 lakh fine. Anybody found to abet or propagate ragging can land up in jail, too.The proposed Bill also provides for facilitating faster adoption of children and setting up foster care homes. The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) would be a statutory body with powers to regulate inter-country adoptions along with issuing guidelines on adoption and related matter.The Bill also makes it mandatory for all child care institutions to register or face stiff penalty for non-compliance.