Justice for the Juvenile Delinquent in 21st Century India

India is known as a youthful country & is home to about one fifth of the world’s children. It is obvious from this statistic that if this young energy is channeled in the right direction the country can experience seamless growth & development. Considered a supreme asset, a child, in a reverse scenario may happen to act as a disruptive force to the highly susceptible social fabric. The world is not as simple as it was during the 19th or 20th century. Pace of human lives has gained momentum, perspectives have been altered, social norms have nebulized & competition has intensified. These complexities have influenced the 21st century child as well. Juvenile delinquency can be understood as the conduct by a juvenile/an individual who is below a certain legally fixed age, characterized by antisocial behavior which is beyond parental control and therefore subject to corrective action. Considering a child’s mental vulnerability & their malleable nature, the Indian juvenile justice system is based on the principle of reformative justice & social reintegration of children. A juvenile is afforded a treatment unlike that provided to an adult under the criminal justice system. However, since the rate of juvenile crime only increases with every passing year, an essential question confronts the juvenile justice machinery: Is the Indian judicial ecosystem well-equipped to deal with the nuances of the ever-widening scope of juvenile delinquency? The literature elaborated hereinafter, is an attempt to understand the position of an Indian juvenile delinquent in this day and age, through the dimensions of historical efforts, causal factors, the current scenario & the statutory aspects related to the point at issue.