No more smoke for Youngsters: New law rules of 7-year jail term on selling any kind of tobacco products to youngsters

Selling cigarettes or chewable tobacco product to minors can invite a jail term of up to seven years and a Rs 1 lakh fine from Friday onwards.

The provisions are a part of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 cleared by Parliament last month and set to be notified on Fri. The law managing underage offenders also paves the means for attempting those between sixteen and eighteen years of age suspect of wicked crimes as adults, punishable with a jail term of up to seven years.

To protect minors from the harmful effects of smoking and tighten the noose around those selling pan masala, gutka and cigarettes to youngsters, the govt has for the first time created providing tobacco product to youngsters below eighteen years a serious criminal offence. The old Juvenile Justice Act only covered liquor and narcotics.

The present Cigarettes and other alternative Tobacco Product (Prohibition of advertising & Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, supply and Distribution) Act prohibits the sale of cigarettes or alternative tobacco products to folks below eighteen years and in areas within a 100- metre radius of academic institutions.

The penalty for violation, however, isn’t stringent – a fine of Rs two hundred and up to a few months in jail.

Similarly, giving drugs or psychotropic substances to minors is an offence underneath the Narcotic drugs and psychotropic Substances Act. However it doesn’t include tobacco products.

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