Power to order parent, etc., to pay fine, etc., instead of juvenile offender

16.-(1) Where a child or young person is charged before any Court with any offence for the commission of which a fine, damages or costs may be imposed, and the Court is of opinion that the case would be best met by the imposition of a fine, damages or costs, whether with or without any other punishment, the Court may in any case, and shall if the offender is a child, order that the fine, damages or costs awarded be paid by the parent or guardian of the child or young person instead of by the child or young person, unless the Court is satisfied that the parent or guardian cannot be found or that he has not conduced to the commission of the offence by neglecting to exercise due care of the child or young person.

(2) In the case of a child or young person charged with any offence, the Court may order his parent or guardian to give security for the good behavior of such child or young person.

(3) Any order under this section may be made against a parent or guardian who, having been required to attend, has failed to do so, but, save as aforesaid, no such order shall be made without giving the parent or guardian an opportunity of being heard.

(4) Any sum ordered to be paid by a parent or guardian under this section, or on forfeiture of any such security as aforesaid, may be recovered from him in like manner as if the order had been made on the conviction of the parent or guardian of the offence with which the child or young person was charged.

(5) A parent or guardian may appeal against an order under this section to the Supreme Court in accordance with the provisions of any Law in force for the time being regulating appeals to such Court from a District Court, as if the parent or guardian against whom the order was made had been convicted by a Court and the order had been a sentence passed on his conviction.