Who is a juvenile?

Juvenile and the benchmark of being juvenile has been a puzzling dilemma for me ever since the horrific Delhi gang rape on that most disastrous December 16th. While nothing less than capital punishment should be the equitable verdict for such brutalism, one of them managed to get away from it as juvenile. Others who were found guilty along with him were sentenced to capital punishment but he was given only three years imprisonment in a reformation institution. Definition of juvenile must not be counted on age. In olden days, time was the only way to master an art. With the advancement of technology, time is not the unit of measurement for mastering art. Accessibility to modern means like internet connections, unrestricted porn sites and gadgets which enable to have utmost privacy for the youth to surf, view and master the ugliest side of sex art make them masters at the pre-end of teen age. Technically, a juvenile is too young a person for understanding the sense and seriousness of the crime (act) as he is unaware of such an act. (an act as horrendous, brutal and torturous as rape). In this crime if media reports are to be believed, this supposedly ‘juvenile’ seems “the most brutal" among the six accused and convicted who took turns to rape and torture Nirbhaya and go to the extent of inhumanly torturing and humiliating the very womanhood in her with an iron road, leaving indefinable injuries which resulted in her death a fortnight later. While both the system and the world are well aware of the unfathomable intensity of the crime, I am yet to fathom the reasons behind the disparity in punishments given.

The yardstick of being called a juvenile is wholly dependent on the acts committed and definitely not the age. When I am writing this post, a prominent news channel is repeatedly telecasting the appalling story from a South Indian town where a 15 plus year old boy brutally raped and murdered a girl who is less than half his age. Here the laws of the country speak contrary. I find no reason to call the criminal a juvenile, when the crime committed is far from the contours of juvenility. Give the age and the mental makeup, no juvenile grows on physical and mental perspective to commit a sexual act. Hence, if a juvenile performs a sexual act whatsoever, technically he/she has to be categorized as an adult, and should be awarded the supreme punishment. The correction home where a juvenile offender enjoys his forced ‘vacation’ is no less than a breeding home where he gets morphed in to a more dangerous predator that no society can afford to accommodate. A juvenile committing a predetermined sexual violence should never get away with a mere lash on the wrist. Here is the reason: According to a recently published online article, about “50 percent of all sexual crimes in India are committed by teenagers. (who know they can get away with it.)” The advocates of juvenile justice keep affirming the need of punishments that brings in reform and rehabilitation, and is devoid of any vindictiveness or revenge. But as I read the medical reports that cite the mortal injuries inflicted on Nirbhaya, I cannot help but wonder why many still cry foul on against amending Juvenile Justice Laws.

Juvenile is called so based on the physical and mental state of being of a person. A juvenile delinquent is as sexually active as a perverted adult. He/she can no more be counted as a juvenile just on the age. I am not a legal professional nor am I aware of the legal intricacies. For lack of knowledge on the complex legal quandaries, I don’t think I can advocate on lowering the juvenile age limit, but as a commoner and strong follower of the judicial system of the country, I believe that a juvenile law applies only to the crimes that can be categorized as juvenile, whereas rape, murder, acid attack, robbery, kidnapping, and other criminal acts can never be included in it. When it comes to crimes so horrific and anti-social as rape and murder, rehabilitation is a faint possibility, but for the miracles like Reni Isaac. However, swift actions and appropriate punishments can definitely send a strong message across the society, thus making sexual offenders think twice before violating a woman’s freedom or trying to trespass her body. Hence punishment as a corrective measure should depend on the gravity of the crimes committed, it be by juvenile or adult.

The culpability of a juvenile is often taken as his immaturity. I wonder what on earth can make one come to the conclusion that all men on earth get matured by the age of 18. As adolescence can scientifically last until 20, It seems strange when the world around gets clung on to the age of 18 as the onset of adulthood. This brings in a curious question. If 18 years mark the onset of adulthood, and brings in all the characteristics of an adult male or female, what should technically be the age of a juvenile who does a fully-fledged sexual act on someone? 18 years? While these cruelties are hard-core actualities, the punishment for them varies for the less-than 18 and the 18+, just because of the age, the mere number, and not the mental makeup and the intensity of the act committed. Childhood and adulthood hardly rests upon the age, but the acts committed. Given the heinousness of crimes committed the under aged should be treated on par with the adults and should be given the same punishment, because juvenile is not the personification of utmost heinousness to commit a spine chilling cruelty.

Compellingly watchable and listenable

While attention grabbing content is the backbone of a TV show or a movie, the presentation and the presenter(s) are of equal significance, as none of us would invest our time to watch a dispirited-looking presenter or a monotonous show that lacks innovativeness and uniqueness in the way it’s being presented. But movies and TV shows no more a daily luxury for me, given the pace at which I work each day. However, I always cherry-pick a few TV programs and make sure to watch them whenever possible. With that said, I must also admit that my checklist is devoid of any soap operas, as I strongly believe in investing time wisely, no matter whether it’s a second or an hour.

News channels and science fiction programs dominated my list of favorite TV shows until I started watching CNBC-TV18. Though this might sound like yet another cliché, I have to say that CNBC-TV18 is truly a business channel with a difference, as I have never seen them broadcasting tailored shows that are solely focused on intricate businesses and markets stories. Instead of serving an elite set of viewers who can decipher the hard to comprehend nuances of finance and markets, they have diverse sets of programs that are both entertaining and informative. Watching CNBC-TV 18 also helped me debunk yet another myth that I’ve had been carrying with me ever since my college days, when I was a devoted and curious student of Journalism. I had always believed that strong abrasiveness is a ‘must-have’ for a journalist of reputable stature. The quintessential visual media journalists whom I revered so far were always found yelling their hearts out on camera, several times, during most of the shows, for an array of reasons. But Shereen Bhan of CNBC-TV18 repeatedly gave me the strong and judicious message that a professional journalist needn’t be abrasive all the time to validate a point or a perspective.



The caustic and irksome on-screen narrators whom I hate to listen to:

From the bygone days of one news channel and a handful of shows, our visual media has grown by leaps and bounds, with the arrival of numerous channels that broadcast endless number of news programs and other related shows, right from dawn to dusk. News stories, political or non-political, always invoke a sense of unplumbed curiosity in me, the reason why I always make it a point to watch one of the news broadcasts telecasted each day. However, news programs are no more the meticulous coverage of top news stories of the day. Nowadays, they do not follow the sequential news broadcasting pattern, one after the other depending on their gravity and depth.

These days, news rooms are less about broadcasting day-to-day happenings and more about abrasive and ludicrous panel discussions that are monopolized by several groups of self-professed intellectuals who carry tremendously inflated misconceptions on their knowledge of the current world and its happenings. The intense interactions, dry wits, distasteful comments, and outlandish altercations take no time to become fiery arguments, violent war of words, and name calling, for several unworthy and unimportant reasons that we can count on. Both the invited guests and the anchors brazenly shout their heads off during the entire sessions, in front of the cameras, and leave no stones unturned to desperately prove themselves right and others wrong, often forgetting the very reason why they entered into the discussion. Thus most of the discussions on political, social, and economic reasons soon pave way for irrational outbursts and unstoppable overflow of intense narcissisms that are intolerable to the core.

A breath of fresh air:

After watching Shereen Bhan for a year, on various shows, I have come to the realization that abrasiveness doesn’t augment one's journalistic expertise, but only intensifies and exhibits the vulnerability of a media person, who has to be technically unbiased and unaffected, even amid the most crucial situations. While many of you might contradict me with a strong argument that CNBC-TV 18 is a business channel that faces the least of tensed debates on political and social issues, I beg to differ, as I have seen her being a part of several discussions that cover such topics as well. I have also had several chances to see her facing the not-so-evident fury of several political functionaries, who have repeatedly taken digs at Shereen Bhan very openly on various programs, for some of her clear-cut questions that they would not want to answer to. Yet, she maintains her commendably calm and composed nature throughout the shows and keeps surprising me frequently. Doesn’t she get angry on being mocked frequently? I don’t know! I have continuously tried to imagine myself in her place, and have constantly thought of my possible reaction on taking such potshots. Let me tell you in no uncertain words – My emotions would have overpowered my practicality, and I would have become downright annoyed several times.

A refreshingly positive face makes every news show and every program worth watching and listening to. It makes you want to listen to the anchor and decipher what’s being talked about. On the other hand, having an abrasive and non-smiling face on the TV is a huge dissatisfaction, and I would hardly bother to listen or watch what’s being aired, no matter how crucial the news program or the show is.