Maneka Gandhi stokes controversy on lowering juvenile age from 18 to 16 years for serious crimes,,

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has stoked a fresh controversy on lowering the age of juveniles from 18 to 16 years for serious crimes. Maneka also says a special board should be constituted to decide whether a crime committed by a juvenile is heinous crime or not and whether the accused did so with a juvenile mind or not?A controversy has been raged after Nirbhaya gangrape case as the juvenile was the most heinous with public outrage demanding that he be tried as an adult but is to serve max sentence of 3 years because he was a few months short of 18.
A Parliamentary committee in February had rejected the government's proposal to try juveniles (aged between 16 and 18 years), who are involved in heinous crimes such as rape, as adults. The committee said the move is "in conflict with law" and should be "reviewed".
The Union minister termed Indian justice system as the slowest in the world. However, she admitted the move would make the law subjective and open it to litigations.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in August 2014 to tackle increasing crimes committed by youngsters aged between 16-18 years like the Delhi gangrape case and to ensure proper care and protection of needy children.