Juvenile Criminal Law in Bangladesh: Children Act 2013 and the 2026 Repression Law

Juvenile criminal law Bangladesh: the 2026 framework

Juvenile criminal law Bangladesh courts apply in 2026 rests on a principle that is easily lost in practice: a child who breaks the law is still a child, and the State must deal with that child through a separate system built around welfare rather than punishment. The Children Act 2013 treats every person under eighteen as a child, removes children from the ordinary criminal courts, bars the death penalty and life imprisonment, and requires police, probation officers and judges to consider warning, diversion and bail before detention.[1] [4]

That system now sits beside a much stricter regime for offences against women and children. The Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, rewritten by Act No 85 of 2026, added Child Violence Prevention Tribunals, ninety-working-day rape trials, DNA testing without consent, tighter bail and a sharper penalty for false cases.[7] [8] This guide explains how a child accused is arrested, bailed, diverted, tried and sentenced, and how a child victim or witness is protected.

Summary: Bangladesh treats anyone under eighteen as a child. Below nine, a child cannot commit an offence; between nine and twelve, liability depends on maturity. Children accused of crimes are dealt with by Children's Courts under the Children Act 2013, with diversion, bail and child-friendly trials, and cannot be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Offences against women and children are tried by special tribunals under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, as amended in 2026.

Key point: A child cannot be tried jointly with an adult. Every case against a child must be sent to the Children's Court, which since the 2018 amendment is the district's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal or, where none exists, the District and Sessions Judge.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

Who is a child under juvenile criminal law Bangladesh recognises

Every case under juvenile criminal law Bangladesh recognises turns first on age, and three rules work together: the Penal Code decides whether a young person can commit an offence at all, the Children Act 2013 decides whether that person must be dealt with as a child, and section 20 of the Act fixes the date on which age is measured. Getting these rules right at the first police contact is the most important protective step for a young accused.

The age of criminal responsibility: Penal Code sections 82 and 83

Section 82 of the Penal Code provides that nothing is an offence which is done by a child under nine. The threshold was seven until the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2004 raised it.[5] Section 83 adds a qualified defence: nothing is an offence if done by a child above nine and under twelve who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of the conduct. The 2004 amendment made the same change from seven to nine in section 83.[6]

A child under nine has a complete answer, so a case naming that child should be challenged at once rather than defended on the facts. For a child between nine and twelve, the section 83 defence turns on evidence of maturity, so school records, family background and the child's conduct become part of the defence. Some press commentary still cites seven; the statutory text has said nine since 2004.

A child is anyone under eighteen, measured at the date of the offence

Section 4 of the Children Act 2013 provides that, notwithstanding any other law, every person under eighteen is a child. Under section 20, age is measured on the date of the offence, so a seventeen-year-old arrested after turning eighteen remains within the Act for that offence. Section 21 lets the Children's Court inquire into and declare age; that declaration stands, but may be revised if credible documents later prove the person was a child.[1] The Act protects both a child in conflict with the law, meaning an accused child, and a child in contact with the law, which includes victims and witnesses.[4]

The Children Act 2013 and the 2018 amendment

The Children Act 2013, Act No 24 of 2013, replaced the Children Act 1974 and came into force on 21 August 2013.[4] It creates probation officers, child welfare boards at national, district and upazila level, Child Affairs Police Desks, Children's Courts and Child Development Centres, and it overrides any conflicting law.[1]

What the 2018 amendment changed

The Children (Amendment) Act 2018, Act No 54 of 2018, made two structural changes. It inserted section 15A, which requires that, once cognizance is taken and the case is ready for trial, a case against a child is sent with its papers to the Children's Court, a case against an adult goes to the competent court, and the Public Prosecutor is notified.[1] It also substituted section 16, which now deems every Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal a Children's Court within its jurisdiction and, where no tribunal exists, the District and Sessions Judge. A Children's Court cannot take cognizance of an offence by a child unless the case reaches it under section 15A.[2]

The result is that the judges who hear rape, dowry and trafficking cases are also the juvenile judges. No separate, dedicated Children's Courts had been established by 2025, and judges were hearing child cases on top of a heavy repression caseload.[13]

Separate charge sheets and separate trials

A child cannot be included in the same charge sheet as an adult: the police must prepare a separate charge sheet, and the child is tried separately.[4] Where adults and a child are accused over the same incident, defence counsel should check compliance at the charge-sheet stage and object at once to any joint charge sheet.

Arrest and the Child Affairs Police Desk

Much of the harm a child suffers in the criminal process happens in the first hours after arrest. The Children Act 2013 therefore imposes mandatory duties on the police from the moment of first contact, and breaches can be raised before the Children's Court and, where serious, in writ proceedings.

Restrictions on arrest

Under section 44, a child below nine cannot be arrested in any circumstances, and no child may be arrested or detained under a preventive detention law. The arresting officer must inform the Child Affairs Police Officer at once and determine age from a birth certificate, school certificate or admission record; a person who appears to be a child is treated as one. Handcuffing a child or tying a rope around the waist is prohibited.[4]

The Child Affairs Police Desk

Section 13 requires a Child Affairs Desk in every police station, headed by an officer not below Sub-Inspector rank, with priority to a female Sub-Inspector where one is posted. Under section 14, the Child Affairs Police Officer keeps separate files for child cases, informs the probation officer and the parents or guardians, arranges medical care and basic needs, verifies age, and assesses the case with the probation officer to arrange diversion or bail. If neither is possible, the child goes to a safe home until the first court appearance.[1]

Section 47 also lets the officer release a child after an oral or written warning given in the presence of the parents or guardian, and the warning is not recorded against the child.[4] For a first, minor incident, parents should ask for it expressly. The adult police-stage rules are covered in our guides to GDs and FIRs and police remand; they should never be applied to a child unchanged.

Diversion, probation officers and family conferences

Diversion is the feature that most clearly separates juvenile criminal law Bangladesh has adopted from the adult system. Section 48 allows a child in conflict with the law to be diverted from formal proceedings at any stage from arrest to the end of trial, taking account of the child's family, social, cultural, economic, ethnic, psychological and educational background.[1]

Notwithstanding the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Child Affairs Police Officer or the Children's Court may refer the matter to a probation officer to resolve it by alternative means. The probation officer monitors compliance with the diversion conditions and must report any breach in writing at once.[1] On breach, the court or officer may impose new conditions, summon the child, issue a warrant, send the file to the Public Prosecutor or order placement in a certified institution.[4]

Under section 49, the probation officer may convene a family conference on a priority basis to agree a programme in the child's best interests. What is said there is confidential and cannot be used as evidence.[4] Probation officers also prepare the social inquiry report the Children's Court must consider before making orders, and they supervise children released on probation.[1] A well-prepared family meets the probation officer early and offers school records and a credible supervision plan.

Bail for children in conflict with the law

For children, the ordinary distinction between bailable and non-bailable offences largely falls away. The Children Act 2013 provides for bail at the police station and in the Children's Court.

Police-station bail under section 52

Where a child cannot be released, diverted or produced in court immediately, the Child Affairs Police Officer may grant bail, with or without conditions or sureties, into the custody of a parent, guardian, extended-family member or probation officer, without regard to whether the offence is bailable. Police bail must be refused where the offence is serious or heinous, where release is against the child's best interests or exposes the child to moral danger, or where it would obstruct justice.[1]

A child not released must be produced before the nearest Children's Court within twenty-four hours of arrest, excluding travel time, and that court must either grant bail or order the child held in a safe place or a Child Development Centre.[1] A child should never be sent to an adult jail on first production.

Court bail under section 29 and the repression law

Unless the case has been diverted, the Children's Court may bail a child whether or not the offence is bailable, on the child's own bond or with surety from a parent, guardian, probation officer or suitable institution. If bail is refused, the court must record reasons and send the child to a certified institution.[1] Where a child is accused under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, section 19(3) still allows bail for a child if release will not impair the course of justice.[9] Strategy for serious cases is covered in our guides to bail in murder cases and High Court bail; for a child, the Children Act grounds should always be argued first.

How children are tried in the Children's Court

A child's trial is designed to look and feel different. The Children's Court has the powers of a Court of Session, and the Code of Criminal Procedure applies only where the Act is silent.[4] This is the core of youth criminal law, and the sequence below reflects how a typical case moves.

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Courtroom, participation and representation

So far as possible, sittings are held in an ordinary room without a dock, at times other than regular court hours.[1] Lawyers and police must not wear uniforms, and parents, the probation officer and the lawyer sit near the child. The child may attend, must be kept informed in simple language and may have an interpreter. No trial may proceed without legal representation: if the family cannot appoint a lawyer, the court appoints one through the District Legal Aid Committee or the Supreme Court panel.[4]

Confidentiality

No photograph or description that could identify a child in a case may be published in print, electronic or online media unless the court is satisfied it will not harm the child. Under section 81, breach carries up to one year's imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 50,000 or both, and an organisation risks suspension of its registration for up to two months and a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh.[4]

The 360-day trial limit

Section 32 requires the trial to finish within 360 days of the child's first appearance, extendable by sixty days for recorded reasons, with sittings on consecutive working days. If the deadline is missed, the child is discharged from a minor charge; that relief does not apply to murder, rape, robbery, dacoity, drug trafficking or other grave offences, and any adult co-accused continues to be tried.[1] Where a child's confession is in issue, the general law is in our guide to retracted confessions; the added question is whether the Children Act safeguards were observed.

Sentencing in juvenile criminal law Bangladesh: no death or life sentence

Sentencing is where the juvenile system departs most sharply from the adult regime. Section 33(1) provides that, notwithstanding any other law, no child may be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or imprisonment. The narrow exception allows imprisonment, capped at the maximum for the offence, only where a detention order would be inadequate or the child is so unruly or depraved that no other measure fits; the court may later move the child to a certified institution until eighteen, and a child in prison must not mix with adults.[1]

Detention in a Child Development Centre

Under section 34, for an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment, the Children's Court may order detention in a Child Development Centre for three to ten years; for any other offence, for up to three years. Instead, the court may discharge the child after a warning or release on probation under a probation officer or a responsible adult, who may give a bond of up to three years.[3] For grave offences, a child who turns eighteen during the case or detention is moved, with the court's permission, to a separate ward of a central or district jail.[3] A conviction does not disqualify a child from employment or elections.[4]

Child Development Centres in practice

There are three government centres: Tongi and Pulerhat in Jashore for boys, and Konabari in Gazipur for girls. Reporting in 2025 found Tongi holding 527 children against a capacity of 300 and Jashore 258 against 150, with dozens of cases unresolved for over a year; new centres are planned in Joypurhat and Chattogram.[12] Those conditions are a strong reason to press for diversion, bail and probation.

Appeals

An appeal from the Children's Court lies to the High Court Division within sixty days, and appeals and revisions are to be decided within sixty days of filing.[4] See our guide to criminal appeals in Bangladesh.

Children as victims and witnesses

Section 54 requires a child victim or witness to be interviewed in a child-friendly setting; a girl is interviewed by a female officer, with a parent and the probation officer present if the child is comfortable. In court, the judge may protect identity, use a screen, admit recorded or video evidence, use an intermediary, sit in camera or take evidence by video link. If the child will not testify in front of the accused, the accused may be removed, provided the defence advocate remains and can cross-examine.[4]

The repression law adopts the same approach: where a child is accused of, or is a witness to, an offence under it, the Children Act 2013 is followed as far as possible.[7] Where a criminal case overlaps with a family dispute, welfare questions are decided separately; see our guide to child custody and guardianship.

The Women and Children Repression Prevention Act after 2026

The other half of juvenile criminal law Bangladesh practitioners must master is the law on crimes against children. The Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, Act No 8 of 2000, creates aggravated offences, special tribunals and fast-track procedures, and has been amended several times, including in 2003 and 2020.[7] [9]

From the 2025 Ordinance to Act No 85 of 2026

In March 2025 the interim government issued the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, Ordinance No 11 of 2025, dated 25 March 2025. The elected Parliament replaced it with Act No 85 of 2026, dated 10 April 2026, which repealed the Ordinance; the official consolidated text records the amendments as effective from 25 March 2025.[8] [11] Searches for a "women and children abuse act 2024" usually lead here: the changes were made by the 2025 Ordinance and confirmed in 2026, not by a 2024 statute.

Offences and new definitions

The Act punishes, among other things, attacks with corrosive or poisonous substances (section 4), abduction (section 7), rape and death following rape (section 9), abetting a woman's suicide (section 9A), sexual harassment (section 10), dowry-related death and hurt (section 11) and maiming a child for begging (section 12). Rape carries death or rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine, and intercourse with a child under sixteen is rape whether or not the child consents.[7]

The 2026 Act added a definition of "sexual act" covering penetration of the vagina or anus by a penis, another body part or an object, or of the mouth by a penis, and extended the rape provisions to such acts against male children. New section 9B punishes inducing a woman above sixteen into intercourse, without force, by a promise of marriage, with up to seven years' rigorous imprisonment.[8] New section 24A lets the tribunal presume lack of consent where the victim could not give it.[7]

Tribunals and Child Violence Prevention Tribunals

Each district has a Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal with one judge drawn from the District and Sessions Judges. New section 26A lets the Government establish one or more Child Violence Prevention Tribunals in each district and metropolitan area to try child rape offences; they follow the existing procedure, may try connected offences together, and until set up the existing tribunal acts.[7]

In Chattogram, two Child Violence Prevention Tribunals began work on 12 January 2026; by June 2026 they shared one courtroom, had no dedicated prosecutor and carried 1,092 pending cases.[14] Nationally, more than 151,000 cases under the Act and over 42,000 child-related cases were pending at the end of 2024.[13]

Filing a complaint

New section 25A requires the officer in charge to record a complaint supported by preliminary evidence as an FIR immediately and arrange the victim's medical examination; the station cannot turn a complainant away because the incident occurred elsewhere. If the police refuse, section 27 allows a sworn complaint directly to the tribunal, which may order an inquiry reported within seven working days.[7] See our guide on how to file a criminal case.

Investigation and trial deadlines

Investigation must now finish within fifteen working days where the accused was caught in the act and thirty working days, reduced from sixty, otherwise, with one fifteen-working-day extension on a written explanation and a further minimum extension where DNA testing is approved. Missed deadlines are recorded as misconduct, and a rape investigator cannot be transferred administratively.[7] [8] Trials must run on every working day and finish within 180 working days; rape trials within ninety working days of framing the charge, and the tribunal may decide a rape case on medical certificates and circumstantial evidence.[7]

DNA testing

Section 32A, substituted in 2026, lets the investigating officer carry out DNA testing of the accused and the victim, with or without consent, under the DNA Act 2014, subject to the approval of the tribunal or magistrate; laboratories must prioritise rape samples.[10] Because trials no longer wait for DNA results, prompt medical examination matters more than ever.

Bail under section 19

A principal accused is not to be released on bail where the complainant has been heard and the tribunal or competent court is satisfied there are reasonable grounds for believing the accused will be found guilty. A woman, child, or sick or infirm accused may be bailed if release will not impair justice, and other accused for recorded reasons.[9] Under new section 35, dowry-related simple hurt is now tried by a First Class Magistrate and is cognizable, compoundable and non-bailable.[7]

False cases, privacy and appeals

Filing a case under the Act to cause harm, knowing there is no lawful ground, carries up to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine. At judgment, a tribunal that finds an accusation false and harassing may, after a show-cause hearing, order compensation to the accused and up to two years' imprisonment for the complainant.[7] [8] Victims' identities, including photographs, may not be disclosed in any media, including online and social media, on pain of up to two years' imprisonment. New section 32B allows witness protection, and appeals to the High Court Division must now be filed within thirty days, reduced from sixty.[7]

Comparing the two regimes

The two statutes often meet in the same case, particularly where a child is accused of an offence against another child. On a phone, scroll the table sideways.

Where a child is accused under the repression law, the Children Act protections apply as far as possible, including separate trial, the bail exception in section 19(3) and the sentencing limits in sections 33 and 34.[1] [9]

Practical mistakes to avoid

The law on paper is protective; outcomes depend on whether families and counsel insist on it. These are the points we press most often under juvenile criminal law Bangladesh procedure.

• Prove age immediately: produce a birth registration or school certificate at the police station, and object in writing if the child is recorded as an adult.
• Demand the Child Affairs Police Officer and probation officer: they control warning, diversion and police bail.
• Insist on a separate charge sheet: a child named with adults must be sent to the Children's Court under section 15A.
• Offer a supervision plan: school, counselling and a responsible adult make diversion, bail and probation far more likely.
• For victims, act fast: go to the police and hospital at once, use the tribunal route if refused, and ask for witness protection.
• Do not exaggerate a complaint: section 17 now allows compensation and imprisonment to be ordered at judgment.

For the wider stages of a prosecution, see our overview of the criminal case process in Bangladesh. Where proceedings are an abuse of process, our section 561A criminal quashment practice advises on High Court applications, and our constitutional and writ litigation practice acts where a child's detention breaches fundamental rights.

Juvenile criminal law Bangladesh: what to watch in 2026

Three issues will shape the system over the next year: whether dedicated Children's Courts are finally established instead of overloaded repression tribunals;[13] whether Child Violence Prevention Tribunals receive the courtrooms, prosecutors and staff their deadlines assume;[14] and conditions in Child Development Centres, alongside the long-running call to raise the age of criminal responsibility above nine.[12] If a child in your family has been arrested, or a child has been harmed, early advice changes outcomes. Contact TRW to discuss the facts in confidence.

Frequently asked questions

What is the age of criminal responsibility under juvenile criminal law Bangladesh applies?

Nine. Nothing done by a child under nine is an offence, and a child between nine and twelve is not liable without sufficient maturity of understanding. The age was raised from seven in 2004.[5] [6]

Who is a child under the Children Act 2013?

Every person under eighteen, measured on the date of the offence.[1]

Which court tries a child accused of a crime?

The Children's Court, which since 2018 is the district's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal or, where there is none, the District and Sessions Judge.[2]

Can a child be tried together with adults?

No. The child gets a separate charge sheet and the case goes to the Children's Court under section 15A.[1] [4]

Can a child get bail for a non-bailable offence?

Yes. The Child Affairs Police Officer and the Children's Court may grant bail regardless of whether the offence is bailable, although police bail is excluded for serious or heinous offences.[1]

Can a child be sentenced to death or life imprisonment?

No. For offences punishable with death or life imprisonment, the court may order detention in a Child Development Centre for three to ten years.[1] [3]

What is diversion?

Removing a child from formal proceedings at any stage from arrest to the end of trial, through a probation officer, family conference or other measures in the child's best interests.[1] [4]

What are Child Violence Prevention Tribunals?

Tribunals under new section 26A of the 2000 Act that try child rape offences, which the Government may set up in each district and metropolitan area.[7]

How long does a rape trial take under the amended law?

Ninety working days from framing the charge; other trials under the Act, 180 working days.[7]

What is the penalty for a false case under the repression law?

Up to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine, and at judgment the tribunal may also order compensation and up to two years' imprisonment.[7]