The Jammu and Kashmir Children's Court Act, 1946

(1) This Act may be called the Children's Court Act, 2003. (2) It shall extend to the whole of the State. (3) It shall come into Snrce from such date as tbe Government may appoint in this behalf.

The provisions of any other Act in force contrary to the pro- visions of this Act, shall not affect or limit these provisions, unless any one of these latter are expressly superseded or modified.

"Chil8' means a person under the age of sfx en years.

This Act shall apply during trial in case of all accused persons who are children at the cornmencement of their trial before the Court whether they continue to be such children thereafter or not.

Every Criminal Court when heariii; charges 2 ~ l i i l c t children for offences whether under the, Code of Criminal Procedure or any other law in force c h q l l sit either in a different building or a different room, d$m thnt in which ordinary sittings of Court are held, cr on different days or at different times from those at which ordinqry sittings ?re held. The Court FO sitting shall be regarded as a] ChiIdren's Court.

A Crinminal Court h ~ a r i ~ g charges against chifdren in the capacity of Children's Court s3all- (a) ordinarily give preference to case.;' against children over any other case ; (b) make provisions for prevcnting a t1 ild-accused while being conveyed to or from the Court or n hi$ waiting in the Court premises before or after hearing of the case: from being associated with adult-accused persons ; (c) allow to polire officer jn unifor:n a d no person other than the members and the officers of the court and the parties to the case, their Vakils and other pr:-sonsldirectly concerned in the case, and the parents and guardians or the nearest relatives of the accused, to attend the Court excert b its leave ; (d) not make an accused child stand id the prisionw7s dock.

(I) In any case whkre a child is accused of an offence whether bailable or not. the kourt may, instead of taking bail from the child, release him to trial on n rerognizsnce epL-red into by his parent or guardian for producing him as the Court may direct., (2) If the parent or the guardian of the child- (a) is not residing. or (b) has no immovable property withid the territories of the State, the Court shall, instead of taking Oersonal recognizance, from such parfnt or m?2r3;ans ask Fin? ' n :~~j-nish a surety re7idfng within the State far the amot~nt to be lirrd by the Court. (3) If the percon entering into recognizance or giving a aurety- bond as abo:le fails to produce the child according to terms of the surety bond- (a) the provisions of Chapter XLII of the Criminal Procedure Code shall supply to &cognizance or surety-bond as the case may be, and (b) the Court may issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused

A Criminal Court shall not- (a) sentence a convicted child who has not, completed his twelfth year to imprisonment in jail ; @) pass a sentence child of- (1) death, (2) Smprisonment for life, or (3) conitscation of his property.

(1) Tho Government may within any specified area specially invest any Magistrate of the first class with all the powers exercisable by a Magistrate of the first class under this Act. A Magistrate who is so specially invested with such power will be called "Children's Court". (2) When such Court is established under sub-section (I), all other Magistrates within that area shall cease to exerdse such powers in cases where the child is tried singly or jointly with other adult co-accused.

(1) No conviction of a child offender shall entail any disqualification entailed on a convicted offender on account of a conviction.

(2) But such conviction will not prevent the Court from taking it into consideration for the purpose of indicting greater punishment on the accused according to law on the repetition of an offence.