The Shiv Sena has urged the Centre to withdraw the recent amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2021, which will ensure that no FIRs are registered in serious offences against children except with special permission from a judicial magistrate.
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has written to Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani urging her to rectify the amendment and restore cognisable status of such offences.
"The amendment will have a devastating impact on children, as it shields perpetrators who employ and exploit children for begging, labour and smuggling drugs," Chaturvedi said.
The Sena leader lamented that these grave offences will not attract registration of FIRs and automatic investigation because of the amendment.
"On one hand, the Centre talks of 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', and on the other hand, it brings forward an amendment that ensures that no FIRs are registered for serious offences against children, except with special permission from a judicial magistrate," she said.
The Central government had made changes in the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 through an amendment in 2021, which makes serious offences against children non-cognisable. Serious offences can attract three to seven years of imprisonment.
