ABSTRACT
The metamorphosis of India’s criminal justice system through the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, heralds a paradigmatic shift towards victim-centric jurisprudence that necessitates critical examination of protective mechanisms for vulnerable populations. This paper investigates the evolving landscape of legal safeguards for children within the framework of India’s reformed criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on the intersection of technology-enabled justice delivery and constitutional guarantees. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, while representing a watershed in Indian legislative history, reveals systemic challenges in operationalising child-sensitive judicial processes. Concurrently, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, confronts unprecedented challenges in the digital era, where children in conflict with law increasingly engage with cybercrime, online exploitation, and technology-facilitated offences. Through doctrinal analysis, comparative jurisprudence, and examination of judicial pronouncements, this paper argues that India’s transforming criminal justice system must transcend procedural reforms to embrace a holistic, rights-based approach centring the voices and agency of vulnerable groups. The research advocates for constitutional vigilance in safeguarding fundamental rights while embracing transformative justice principles prioritising healing, accountability, and systemic change.
Keywords:Vulnerable Groups Protection, POCSO Act, Juvenile Justice, Digital-Age Delinquency, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Child-Sensitive Justice.
I. INTRODUCTION
India’s criminal justice architecture underwent its most sweeping transformation since independence with the simultaneous enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) in 2023.[1] These three statutes, collectively displacing their colonial antecedents, represent not merely legislative substitution but an aspirational reimagination of criminal justice premised on the values of the Indian Constitution. Yet legislative ambition is a necessary but not sufficient condition for meaningful reform. The true test of a criminal justice system lies in its treatment of its most vulnerable participants—children who appear before it as victims of abuse, exploitation, and neglect, and as young persons who have come into conflict with the law.
The constitutional mandate for child protection is unambiguous.[2] Articles 15(3), 39(e) and (f), and 45 of the Constitution collectively impose affirmative obligations upon the State to make special provisions for children, to protect them from exploitation, and to ensure their healthy development. These obligations have been progressively elaborated by the Supreme Court into a comprehensive jurisprudence of child rights, informing legislative developments including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012,[3] and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.[4] The question this paper addresses is whether the transformative ambitions of the new criminal justice legislation are matched by adequate attention to the specific vulnerabilities of children, and whether the existing specialised frameworks for child protection and juvenile justice are equipped to function effectively within the transformed landscape.
The stakes are considerable. The National Crime Records Bureau’s data reveals that crimes against children, particularly sexual offences, continue to be recorded in alarming numbers, while the justice machinery responsible for redressing these crimes operates under severe structural constraints.[5] Simultaneously, the digital revolution has fundamentally altered both the nature of crimes against children and the character of juvenile delinquency, presenting challenges that neither the POCSO Act nor the JJ Act 2015 were originally designed to address. This paper examines these intersecting challenges and proposes a framework for a genuinely child-centred transformation of India’s criminal justice system.
[1] The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, No. 45 of 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, No. 46 of 2023; Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, No. 47 of 2023. All three statutes came into force on July 1, 2024, replacing the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.
[2] INDIA CONST. art. 15, cl. 3 (enabling special provisions for women and children); INDIA CONST. art. 39, cl. (e)-(f) (directing protection of children from abuse and ensuring opportunities for healthy development).
[3] The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, No. 32 of 2012, India Code (2012) [hereinafter POCSO Act], amended by The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, No. 25 of 2019.
[4] The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, No. 2 of 2016, India Code (2015) [hereinafter JJ Act 2015].
[5] National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2022, at 173–182 (2023) (recording 38,911 cases under the POCSO Act with an average trial duration exceeding three years in designated special courts).