JUVENILE JUSTICE: DETERMINING JUVENILITY & ANALYSIS OF PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES ACT, 2012

ABSTRACT India is the second largest child population in the world. About 42% of India‟s population is below 18 years of age.Jawaharlal Nehru once said,“Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow”. However, the aberrant behavior of children in recent times has caused long standing problems for the law enforcement in dealing with them. The NCRB report of 2013 states an alarming increase of 13.2% in crimes committed by delinquent juveniles as compared to the data of 2003. On the other hand, sexual crimes against children have also increased rapidly. Child sexual abuse is the sexual mistreatment of the child.