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India

Dilution of India’s juvenile system: Dangerous signals

The Private Member's Bill introduced in the Parliament in December 2025 seeking to further reduce the age of children accused of heinous offences (with punishment more than 7 years) from 16 years to 14 years to be treated as adults, is premised on a widely held but deeply flawed assumption, that crimes by children are rising alarmingly and that the juvenile justice system is overly lenient.