The latest high court judgement on minors elopement and marriages has made me think about how differently we treat our children when it comes to their being a victim, or as those in conflict with law. The basis of seperate legislation for children is that they are not mature enough to know the consequences of their act and need reform and support to tread the correct path. now even the medical experiments have established that the frontal lobe of the person continues to grow till the age of 25, which basically decides on the persons ability to consider the consequences of his/ her act.

when we consider the case of minor eloping, we are ignoring this fact and invariable even in other cases of kidnapping where the age of the prosecutrix is determined through the medical board the benefit is given to the higher age in the range. However, when dealing with a juvenile in conflict situation this benefit is given of the lower age of the range suggested by the medical board and we never consider the mental maturity and understanding of the juvenile while treating him as a juvenile. these are the anomolies that needs to be addressed.