Parent or guardian may be required to attend Juvenile Court
31. Where a child or young person is charged with any offence or is for any reason brought before a Juvenile Court, his parent or guardian may in any case, and shall if he can be found and resides within a reasonable distance, be required to attend at the Juvenile Court before which the case is heard or determined during all the stages of the proceedings, unless the Juvenile Court is satisfied that it would be unreasonable to require the attendance of the parent or guardian.
Constitution of Juvenile Courts
32.—(1) A Juvenile Court shall be presided over by a Magistrate nominated by the President.
(2) If at any time, by reason of illness or other emergency, the Magistrate nominated under subsection (1) is not available, any Magistrate, although not so nominated, may preside over a Juvenile Court.
(3) The presiding Magistrate, when determining the method of dealing with a child or young person in respect of whom a written report is obtained by the Juvenile Court regarding his background, family history, school record or such other matters, shall sit with two advisers from a panel of advisers nominated by the President except that where it appears that the Court cannot without adjournment be fully constituted and that an adjournment would be inexpedient in the interests of justice, he may sit with one adviser or he may sit alone.
(4) Except as modified or extended by this Act (Cap. 68), the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code shall apply to a Juvenile Court as if that Court were a Magistrate’s Court.
Jurisdiction of Juvenile Courts
33.—(1) No child or young person shall be charged with or tried for any offence by a court of summary jurisdiction which is not a Juvenile Court except that—
- (a) where a child or young person is charged with any offence triable only by the High Court, he shall be tried by the High Court;