Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice and the Collective Social Good

Resumen

A recent gruesome road accident in the metropolitan city of Pune, India, has once again revived deliberations on issues pertaining to juvenile crime and juvenile justice. In this case, irresponsible and unmindful rash driving by a minor boy, aged 17 years, took the life of two young engineers traveling on a motorbike. The juvenile accused was driving a luxury Porsche at 2:00 am, under the influence of alcohol, when his vehicle crashed at high speed into a bike killing both the riders. As per Indian Penal Code, a 17 year old is neither allowed to drive a four wheeler nor allowed to drink alcohol. In fact, even an 18 year old is not legally permitted to drink and drive. On that ill-fated night the juvenile, who belongs to an extremely rich and politically influential family, had gone to some pubs in the city with his friends to celebrate his success in the class 12th Public Board exam. He spent extravagantly on the occasion, something that is not normal and usual among teenagers for such celebrations. The luxury vehicle which had no license plate was gifted to him by his father who is a real estate tycoon owning many business houses. The family also attempted to cover up the case by taking recourse to political heavyweights to influence and change reports and facts. Needless to say that this entire incident and the handling of it raised a lot of hue and cry. This case recalled another gruesome gang rape case in which a few juveniles were involved known as the Nirbhaya Rape Case that had shaken the collective conscience of the entire nation so much so that it led to an Amendment in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. With this most recent accident case juvenile crime and juvenile justice have once again become a relevant subject to address in a serious way. This paper attempts to address those issues taking into account some of these empirical facts of the case.