Home / Legal Explainers / Police & Courts / Courts / Crimes by Children / Preliminary Assessment of a child’s crime

Children under 7 years are completely excluded from being prosecuted under criminal law. Children aged between 7 to 12 years are excluded if the court believes that they did not understand the consequence of their actions.

Preliminary Assessment of a child’s crime

Last updated on Apr 8, 2022

A preliminary assessment is conducted when a heinous offence is committed by a child over the age of 16. This is an attempt to find out whether the child was mature enough to understand their action and the consequences of them when they committed the crime. If the child was mature enough, the proceedings need to be conducted in the same way an adult would be. The Board can take the help of trained psychologists and experts to arrive at its conclusions but must complete the inquiry within 3 months.

 

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 4.7 / 5. Vote count: 3

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Please share your feedback about this post!

Sharing feedback will help us improve our content. Tell us how!

If you want to keep your feedback confidential, please mention it in your feedback. If you have a question, please ask us in the comments or Ask Nyaaya sections.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a question you want to ask our legal experts?

Ask Nyaaya

Related Resources

What is Adoption?

Adoption is the process through which a prospective adoptive parent lawfully assumes the responsibility of a child.

Children Legally Free for Adoption

Declaring a child legally free for adoption allows such children to be put up for adoption under the non-religious law.

Role of Courts

The Courts play a very important role during the adoption procedure by way of giving adoption orders, permission to adopt and appeals.

Theft by Child

Under the Indian law, if a child commits theft, then the punishment for them is lighter than the punishment for an adult.
Crimes and Violence

Punishments Under Adoption Law

You may be punished if you illegally take a child to a foreign country, abandon a child, receive payment in exchange for adoption, etc.

Who can be Adopted?

Under the Hindu law and the non-religious law on adoption, certain conditions have been laid down to determine which children can be adopted.