A Group of Ministers (GoM) chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah met on Friday to discuss proposed amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) (JJ) Act, 2015. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani steered the meeting.
The 2015 Act addressed two key issues — “apprehension, detention, prosecution, penalty or imprisonment, rehabilitation and social re-integration of children in conflict with law” and “procedures and decisions or orders relating to rehabilitation, adoption, re-integration and restoration of children in need of care and protection”.
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A senior government official said the meeting was convened to seek views from all the senior Cabinet Ministers on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion. “The Prime Minister wants that there should be greater synergy between Ministries on proposed laws. There are certain amendments that are being brought to the JJ Act and the GoM under Mr. Shah met to discuss the fine print. Views from all Union Ministers were sought,” a senior official said.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan attended the meeting.
