Section 1 in The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2001 (Model)
1. Principle of right to innocence. - The juvenile or child's right to innocence and presumption of innocence up to the age of seven years (or up to the age of twelve years, as under) be respected throughout the process from the initial contact to aftercare.
The basic components of the right to and presumption of innocence are:(i)Age of innocence-.(a)A juvenile or child is presumed to be innocent of any mala fide or criminal intent up to the age of seven years in all cases and upto twelve years in the cases wherein he is unable to understand the consequences of his action on account of immaturity of understanding.(b)Unlawful conduct which is done for survival, or is due to environmental or situation factors or is done under control of adults or peer groups, is ought to be covered by the principles of innocence.(c)The idea is to allow certain benefits to a juvenile in conflict with law vis-a-vis his mental development assessed by the experts in the field through out the world as of eighteen years being the time of demarcation and with this end in view the yardstick can only be the date of occurrence because the whole spirit is to impart benefit to such juvenile on grounds of lesser development of his mental faculty.(ii)Procedural protection of innocence-Procedural safeguards shall be guaranteed to protect the presumption of innocence.(iii)Provisions of Legal aid and Guardian Ad LitemTo protect the juvenile's or child's right to and the presumption of innocence, provisions must be made when needed, for free legal aid and guardian ad litem.(iv)Avoidance of harm-At all stages, from the initial contact till disposition, extreme care shall be taken to avoid any harm to the sensitivity of the juvenile or child.
