(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Central Act 5 of 1898), the State Government may, by 1-i ' "wt* notification, constitute, for any area specified in the notification, one or more Children's courts for exercising the powers and discharging theduties conferred or imposed on such court in relation to delinquent childien under this Act.
(2) A children's court shall function as a bench of such number of magistrates not exceeding three, as the State Government thinks fit to appoint, of whom one shall be designated as the senior magistrate and not less than one • shall be a woman ; and every such bench shall have the powers conferred 13), the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Central Act S of 1898), on a judicial magistrate of the first class.