Full Judgment Text
Reportable
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1322 OF 2012
[@ SLP (CRL) NO. 5503 OF 2011]
Vijay Singh …Appellant
VERSUS
State of Delhi …Respondent
J U D G M E N T
Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, J.
1. Leave granted.
The sole accused is the appellant herein. The challenge is to the
judgment of the High Court of Delhi in Crl.A.669/1999 dated
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07.01.2011 by which the conviction and sentence of rigorous
imprisonment for a period of five years imposed on the appellant
for an offence punishable under Section 307, IPC and a fine of
Rs.200/- with a default sentence of further rigorous
imprisonment for 15 days came to be confirmed.
2. At the time of filing of the Special Leave Petition in this matter,
the point raised was that the petitioner (appellant) was a juvenile
on the date of commission of the offence and reliance was placed
upon the School Leaving Certificate issued by the Principal/Head
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Master of Primary School, Chitayan, Distt. Mainpuri, Uttar
Pradesh. The date of birth of the petitioner was noted as
01.12.1981. The alleged offence was stated to have been
committed on 11.03.1998 and if the date of birth noted in the
certificate is found to be true, the petitioner would have been 16
years 3 months and 10 days on the date of incident, namely,
11.03.1998.
3. On hearing the learned counsel for the appellant, by an order
dated 01.08.2011, while taking the said certificate on record,
since for the first time such a claim was raised, the District and
Sessions Judge, Itawa, Uttar Pradesh was directed to summon
the Principal along with the original admission/School Leaving
Registers and was directed to submit a report. Thereafter a
report was received from the District and Sessions Judge, Itawa
stating that prima facie the date of birth of the appellant
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appeared to be 01.12.1981. However, after examining the
original records forwarded by the learned District Judge, Itawa, it
was noticed that the report was not a full-fledged one.
4. The learned District Judge was, therefore, directed to examine
the issue as to whether the appellant was a juvenile on
11.03.1998, by summoning the parties before it and also
examine any other document, to adduce and submit a report
within a period of six weeks to the Court. The said order was
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passed on 30.01.2012. Pursuant to the said directions, the
learned District Judge has now filed a detailed report dated
26.03.2012. A perusal of the report discloses that the
Principal/Head Master of Primary School, Chitayan, Distt.
Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh was examined as CW-1 on 05.03.2012,
who is stated to have produced the counter foil of the School
Leaving Certificate relating to the appellant marked as Exhibit
CW-1/A according to which the date of birth of the appellant was
01.12.1981. The document also disclosed that the appellant was
admitted to the school on 01.08.1989 and relieved from the
th
school on 01.07.1992 after passing 5 standard. According to
him, the Admission Register also disclosed that the date of birth
of the appellant was noted as 01.12.1981.
5. The learned District Judge, apart from ascertaining the said
facts from the records, stated to have referred the appellant for
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examination by the Medical Board consisting of Dr. Sunil Kakkar
(CW-2), Dr. Akansha (CW-3), Dr. Sameer Dhari (CW-4) and Dr.
Kumar Narender Mohan (CW-5). Dr. Sunil Kakkar (CW-2), HOD
Radiology, Chairman, Standing Committee Age Determination
Record stated before the learned District Judge that the
appellant was examined by the Board on 01.03.2012 by the
members of the Board consisting of a Physician, Dentist and
another radiologist. On such examination, as per the bone age
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report (Exhibit CW2/A), the Board opined that the age of the
appellant was above 22 years and below 25 years as on the date
of his examination, namely, on 01.03.2012. The other members
of the Medical Board also confirmed the said view of the Medical
Board.
6. Based on the above factors, the District Judge has returned a
finding that as on the date of the incident, namely, 11.03.1998,
the age of the appellant was less than 18 years and, therefore, he
was a ‘juvenile’ on that date. The offence alleged against the
appellant was that on 11.03.1998, he gave knife blows on the
person of Shiv Shankar (PW-4) who demanded repayment of the
money (Rs.3,000/-) lent to the appellant; that immediately after
the occurrence since the injured was not fit for giving any
statement, based on the statement of Subhash (PW-2), the FIR
was registered and after the completion of investigation, the
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charge sheet was filed.
7. Having regard to the overwhelming evidence led before the trial
Court and on being convinced of the proof of guilt against the
appellant, the appellant was convicted for the offence under
Section 307, IPC imposing a sentence of five years’ rigorous
imprisonment with a fine of Rs.200/- with a default sentence of
15 days’ rigorous imprisonment. The High Court, on a detailed
analysis of the evidence available on record and the injuries
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sustained by the vicitim-PW-4, which was supported by medical
evidence, dismissed the appeal. In such circumstances, we do
not find any scope to interfere with the order of conviction
imposed on the appellant.
8. In fact, as stated earlier this Special Leave Petition was
entertained on 30.09.2011 since it was for the first time argued
before this Court that the appellant was a juvenile on the date of
occurrence as per the date of birth recorded in the School
Leaving Certificate. When we consider the said submission in the
light of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986
(hereinafter called the Act) as repealed by the Juvenile Justice
(Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000, as well as, the
subsequent amendment of 2006 read along with the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007, it has now
become incumbent upon this Court to consider the said
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contention raised on behalf of the appellant in order to find out
the correctness of the benefit claimed as a ‘juvenile’.
9. The relevant provision which is required to be noted is Section
7A of the Act in the present form which came to be inserted by
the amendment Act of 33/2006 w.e.f. 22.08.2006. The other
provisions are Section 2 (l) the definition of ‘juvenile in conflict
with law’, Section 20 of the Act and Rule 12 of the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007 which
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prescribe the procedure to be followed in the matter of
determination of age.
10. The application of the above provisions in the light of
the subsequent amendment to the Act introduced in the year
2006 and the Rules introduced in the year 2007 came to be
considered in detail by this Court in the reported decision in
Hari Ram v. State of Rajasthan and Anr .- 2009 (13) SCC
211. While dealing with Section 7-A, this Court has held as
under in paragraph 23:
“23. Section 7-A makes provision for a claim of juvenility to be
raised before any court at any stage, even after final disposal of a
case and sets out the procedure which the court is required to
adopt, when such claim of juvenility is raised. It provides for an
inquiry, taking of evidence as may be necessary (but not affidavit)
so as to determine the age of a person and to record a finding
whether the person in question is a juvenile or not.”
11. By making a reference to Rule 12 vis-à-vis Section 7-A
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of the Act, Sub-rules(4) and (5) of Rule 12 were examined and the
position has been set out as under in paragraph 27 of the
judgment:
“27.Sub-rules (4) and (5) of Rule 12 are of special significance in
that they provide that once the age of a juvenile or child in
conflict with law is found to be less than 18 years on the date of
offence on the basis of any proof specified in sub-rule (3) the
court or the Board or as the case may be the Child Welfare
Committee appointed under Chapter IV of the Act, has to pass a
written order stating the age of the juvenile or stating the status
of the juvenile, and no further inquiry is to be conducted by the
Court or Board after examining and obtaining any other
documentary proof referred to in sub-rule (3) of Rule 12. Rule 12,
therefore, indicates the procedure to be followed to give effect to
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the provisions of Section 7-A when a claim of juvenility is raised.”
12. Again in paragraph 39 by making reference to the
explanation to Section 20 which was introduced by Amendment
Act 33/2006, the applicability of the benefit of amended
definition of Section 2 (l) was considered and the position was
clarified as under in the said paragraph:
“ 39 . The Explanation which was added in 2006, makes it very
clear that in all pending cases, which would include not only
trials but even subsequent proceedings by way of revision or
appeal, the determination of juvenility of a juvenile would be in
terms of clause ( l ) of Section 2, even if the juvenile ceased to be a
juvenile on or before 1-4-2001, when the Juvenile Justice Act,
2000, came into force, and the provisions of the Act would apply
as if the said provision had been in force for all purposes and for
all material times when the alleged offence was committed. In
fact, Section 20 enables the court to consider and determine the
juvenility of a person even after conviction by the regular court
and also empowers the court, while maintaining the conviction,
to set aside the sentence imposed and forward the case to the
Juvenile Justice Board concerned for passing sentence in
accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act,
2000.”
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Ultimately in para 59, the position was set at rest to the
following effect.
“59. The law as now crystallized on a conjoint reading of
Section 2(k), 2(l), 7-A, 20 and 49 read with Rules 12 and 98,
places beyond all doubt that all persons who were below the age
of 18 years on the date of commission of the offence even prior to
1.4.2001, would be treated as juveniles, even if the claim of
juvenility was raised after they had attained the age of 18 years
on or before the date of commencement of the Act and were
undergoing sentence upon being convicted.”
13. In the light of the said legal position, the claim of the
appellant had to be necessarily considered and ascertain whether
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he had been a ‘juvenile’, as claimed by him, on the date of
occurrence, namely, 11.03.1998.
14. Going by Rule 12 of the Rules, in particular, sub-Rule
(3), the age determination inquiry should be conducted by the
Court or by the Board or the Committee by seeking evidence by
obtaining (a) (i) the matriculation or equivalent certificate, if it is
available; and in the absence whereof; ii) the date of birth
certificate from the School (other than a play school) first
attended; and in the absence whereof; iii) the birth certificate
given by a corporation or municipal authority or a panchayat; b)
and in the absence of either (i), (ii) or (iii) of clause (a) above, the
medical opinion will be sought from a duly constituted Medical
Board, which will declare the age of the juvenile or child. In case
exact assessment of the age cannot be done, the Court or the
Board or, as the case may be, the Committee, for the reasons to
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be recorded by them, may, if considered necessary, give benefit
to the child or juvenile by considering his/her age on lower side
within the margin of one year.
15. Going by sub-rule 3(a)(ii) of aforesaid Rule 12, the date
of birth certificate from the school (other than a play school) first
attended, comes at the second stage in the order of priority for
consideration to ascertain the age of accused claiming to be a
juvenile. In the case on hand, the appellant does not claim to be
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a matriculate. Therefore, the question of matriculation or
equivalent certificate and its availability does not arise. The
present claim as a juvenile is based on the School Leaving
Certificate issued by the school in which the appellant stated to
th
have studied up to 5 class, namely, Primary School, Chitayan,
Distt. Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh. As per the said certificate, the
date of birth recorded in the school admission register and the
corresponding entry in the School Leaving Certificate was
01.12.1981. The appellant stated to have joined the school on
01.08.1989 and left the school after subsequently completing his
th
5 standard on 01.07.1992. The correctness of the said
certificate was examined by the learned District Judge, Itawa as
directed by this Court as to be seen from the report dated
26.03.2012. The Principal/Head Master of the School also
verified the admission register. The counterfoil of the said School
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Leaving Certificate is placed before this Court. A perusal of the
report also discloses that the certificate was genuine, that the
date of birth record therein has been found to be correct and
once the said position could be ascertained based on the above
report, applying Rule 12 (3) as well as sub-rules (4) and (5) the
said Rule read along with Section 7A of the Act the appellant on
11.03.1998 was 16 years 3 months and 10 days old. The
appellant, therefore, is covered by the decision of this Court in
Hari Ram (supra) . Since the appellant was below 18 years of age
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on the date of commission of the offence, the provisions of the
Act would apply in full force in his case.
16. Having regard to the above conclusion, in the normal
course we would have remitted the matter to the Juvenile Justice
Court, Itawa for disposal in accordance with law. However, since
the offence was alleged to have been committed more than 10
years ago and having regard to the course adopted by this Court
in certain other cases reported in Jayendra & Anr. v. State of
Uttar Pradesh - 1981 (4) SCC 149, Bhoop Ram v. State of
U.P. - 1989 (3) SCC 1 which were subsequently followed in
Bhola Bhagat v. State of Bihar - 1997 (8) SCC 720, Pradeep
Kumar v. State of U.P.- 1995 Suppl.(4) SCC 419, Upendra
Kumar v. State of Bihar - 2005 (3) SCC 592 and Vaneet
Kumar Gupta alias Dharminder v. State of Punjab - 2009
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(17) SCC 587, we are of the view that at this stage when the
appellant would have now crossed the age of 30 years, there is no
point in remitting the matter back to the Juvenile Justice Court.
Instead, following the above referred to decisions, appropriate
orders can be passed by this Court itself.
17. In Jayendra (supra) the challenge arose under Uttar
Pradesh Children Act, 1951 which contained Section 27 which
mandated that no child shall be sentenced to any term of
imprisonment and if a child had been found to have committed
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an offence punishable with imprisonment then he could be sent
to an approved school. However, it had been determined by the
Supreme Court through the reports of medical officers taking into
account the general appearance, physical examination and
radiological findings of the appellant Jayendra, that he had been
a ‘child’ under the definition in the Act at the time of commission
of the offence. However, at the time of hearing of the SLP by the
Supreme Court, he had already attained the age of 23. In the
light of that, the Court upheld the conviction of the appellant
Jayendra, but quashed the sentence imposed on him and
directed that he be released forthwith. The Court observed as
under:-
“3. Section 2(4) of the Uttar Pradesh Children Act, 1951 (U.P. Act
1 of 1952) defines a child to mean a person under the age of 16
years. Taking into account the various circumstances on the
record of the case we are of the opinion that the appellant
Jayendra was a child within the meaning of this provision on the
date of the offence. Section 27 of the aforesaid Act says that
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law, no court
shall sentence a child to imprisonment for life or to any term of
imprisonment. Section 2 provides, insofar as it is material, that if
a child is found to have committed an offence punishable with
imprisonment, the court may order him to be sent to an
approved school for such period of stay as will not exceed the
attainment by the child of the age of 18 years. In the normal
course, we would have directed that the appellant Jayendra
should be sent to an approved school but in view of the fact that
he is now nearly 23 years of age, we cannot do so.
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4. For these reasons, though the conviction of the appellant
Jayendra has to be upheld, we quash the sentence imposed upon
him and direct that he shall be released forthwith.”
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18. In Bhoop Ram (supra) also the case arose under the
Uttar Pradesh Children Act, 1951. The controversy there was
surrounding the question whether the appellant had actually
been a juvenile/child under the definition of the Act at the time
of commission of the offence. Although such a plea had been
taken before both the trial Court as also the Sessions Court, the
trial Court had merely taken into account such a plea for the
purpose of awarding a reduced sentence of life imprisonment
instead of death penalty for the offences he had been charged
with and convicted for. When the appeal reached the Supreme
Court, this Court directed an enquiry by the Sessions Judge to
determine if the appellant had been actually been a child at the
time of the incident. The Sessions Judge conducted an enquiry,
taking into account the opinion of the Chief Medical Officer and
the school certificate that had been produced by the appellant,
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and concluded that the appellant had not been a ‘child’ at the
concerned time. However, the Supreme Court rejected the
finding of the Sessions Judge being based on surmises and
essentially relying upon the school certificate produced by the
appellant to conclude that he indeed had been a ‘child’ at the
time when the offence had been committed. On the question of
sentencing, this Court followed the precedent in Jayendra
(supra) and quashed the sentence, observing:-
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“8. Since the appellant is now aged more than 28 years of age,
there is no question of the appellant now being sent to an
approved school under the U.P. Children Act for being detained
there. In a somewhat similar situation, this Court held in
Jayendra v. State of U.P. that where an accused had been
wrongly sentenced to imprisonment instead of being treated as a
“child” under Section 2(4) of the U.P. Children Act and sent to an
approved school and the accused had crossed the maximum age
of detention in an approved school viz. 18 years, the course to be
followed is to sustain the conviction but however quash the
sentence imposed on the accused and direct his release
forthwith. Accordingly, in this case also, we sustain the
conviction of the appellant under all the charges framed against
him but however quash the sentence awarded to him and direct
his release forthwith. The appeal is therefore partly allowed
insofar as the sentence imposed upon the appellant are
quashed.”
19. In Bhola Bhagat (supra) this Court had discussed the
present issue at hand at quite some length. Three of the
appellants had taken the plea of juvenility in assailing the order
of the High Court sentencing them to imprisonment for life for
offences under Section 302/149, IPC. The Supreme Court
agreed with the findings of the lower Courts as regards the
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involvement of the appellants in the commission of the offence
and held that the same had been established beyond reasonable
doubt. However, on the question of sentencing, the Court looked
into the plea of juvenility as had been claimed by the appellants.
The Court had noted the interplay of the two Acts in question viz.
The Bihar Children Act, 1982 and the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986
and that the Bihar Act had already been in force at the time of
the commission of the offence. It took note of the decisions of
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this Court in Bhoop Ram (supra) and Jayendra (supra) and
emphasized that in these cases although the conviction was
sustained the sentence had been quashed taking into account
the fact that the appellants had crossed the age of juvenility and
could not be sent to an ‘approved school’ as had been
contemplated under the relevant Children’s Act. The Court
proceeded to discuss the three Judge Bench decision of this
Court in Pradeep Kumar (supra) and quoted the following from
that case:-
“12…………
“At the time of the occurrence Pradeep Kumar appellant, aged
about 15 years, was resident of Railway Colony, Naini, Krishan
Kant and Jagdish appellants, aged about 15 years and 14 years,
respectively, were residents of Village Chaka, P.S. Naini.”
At the time of granting special leave, two appellants therein
produced school-leaving certificate and horoscope respectively
showing their ages as 15 years and 13 years at the time of the
commission of the offence and so far as the third appellant is
concerned, this Court asked for his medical examination and on
the basis thereof concluded that he was also a child at the
relevant time. The Court then held: (SCC p. 420, paras 3 and 4)
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“It is, thus, proved to the satisfaction of the Court that on the
date of occurrence, the appellants had not completed 16 years of
age and as such they should have been dealt with under the U.P.
Children Act instead of being sentenced to imprisonment on
conviction under Sections 302/34 of the Act.
Since the appellants are now aged more than 30 years, there is
no question of sending them to an approved school under the
U.P. Children Act for detention. Accordingly, while sustaining the
conviction of the appellants under all the charges framed against
them, we quash the sentences awarded to them and direct their
release forthwith . The appeals are partly allowed in the above
terms.”
(Emphasis supplied)
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20. The Court in its final conclusion in Bhola Bhagat
(supra), adopted the same course as had been done in the
aforementioned cases and observed:-
“ 15. The correctness of the estimate of age as given by the trial
court was neither doubted nor questioned by the State either in
the High Court or in this Court. The parties have, therefore,
accepted the correctness of the estimate of age of the three
appellants as given by the trial court. Therefore, these three
appellants should not be denied the benefit of the provisions of a
socially progressive statute. In our considered opinion, since the
plea had been raised in the High Court and because the
correctness of the estimate of their age has not been assailed, it
would be fair to assume that on the date of the offence, each one
of the appellants squarely fell within the definition of the
expression “child”. We are under these circumstances reluctant
to ignore and overlook the beneficial provisions of the Acts on the
technical ground that there is no other supporting material to
support the estimate of ages of the appellants as given by the
trial court, though the correctness of that estimate has not been
put in issue before any forum. Following the course adopted in
Gopinath Ghosh , Bhoop Ram and Pradeep Kumar cases while
sustaining the conviction of the appellants under all the charges
we quash the sentences awarded to them.
16. The appellants Chandra Sen Prasad, Mansen Prasad and
Bhola Bhagat, shall, therefore, be released from custody
forthwith, if not required in any other case. Their appeals
succeed to the extent indicated above and are partly allowed.”
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21. In Upendra Kumar (supra), this Court reiterated the
position that has been adopted in the aforementioned cases. The
appellant had been handed down a life imprisonment for his
conviction under Section 302 of the IPC. He had been a juvenile,
as under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act,
2000, on the day of the commission of the offence but, however,
the protection of the Act had not been afforded to him. Through
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the report of the Medical Board, it had been fully established that
the appellant was between the age of 17 and 18 years on the date
of the report which was dated some three months after the day of
incident in question. Even the order of sentence recorded the age
of the appellant as 17 years. The Court thus concluded that the
appellant was liable to be granted the protection of the Juvenile
Justice Act, 2000. As regards the course to be adopted as a
sequel to such conclusion, this Court referred to the earlier
decisions such as in the case of Bhola Bhagat (supra), Bhoop
Ram (supra) etc. The Court observed in this regard:-
“4. Mr Sharan has cited various decisions but reference may be
made only to the case of Bhola Bhagat v. State of Bihar since
earlier decisions on the issue in question have been noticed
therein. In Bhola Bhagat case referring to the decisions in the
case of Gopinath Ghosh v. State of W.B. , Bhoop Ram v. State of
U.P. and Pradeep Kumar v. State of U.P. this Court came to the
conclusion that the accused who were juvenile could not be
denied the benefit of the provisions of the Act then in force,
namely, the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986.
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5. The course this Court adopted in Gopinath Ghosh case as also
in Bhola Bhagat case was to sustain the conviction but, at the
same time, quash the sentence awarded to the convict. In the
present case, at this distant time, the question of referring the
appellant to the Juvenile Board does not arise. Following the
aforesaid decisions, we would sustain the conviction of the
appellant for the offences for which he has been found guilty by
the Court of Session, as affirmed by the High Court, at the same
time, however, the sentence awarded to the appellant is quashed
and the appeal is allowed to this extent. Resultantly, the
appellant is directed to be released forthwith if not required in
any other case.”
22. Similar course of action was taken in a recent decision
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of this Court in Vaneet Kumar Gupta alias Dharminder
(supra) . Challenge in that appeal was mainly on the award of
sentence of life imprisonment to the appellant and to determine
whether adequate material had been available on record to hold
that the appellant had not attained the age of 18 years on the
date of commission of the offence. Upon an affidavit filed by the
Deputy Superintendent of Police pursuant to inquiries made by
him, it was reported that the age of the appellant as on the date
of occurrence had been about 15 years. The inquiry report
inspired confidence of the Court and the Court held that the
appellant cannot be denied the benefits of the Juvenile Justice
(Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000. As regards the
question of sentence, this Court observed:-
“12. The inquiry report, which inspires confidence,
unquestionably establishes that as on the date of occurrence, the
appellant was below the age of eighteen years; was thus, a
“juvenile” in terms of the Juvenile Justice Act and cannot be
denied the benefit of the provisions of the said Act. Therefore,
having been found to have committed the aforementioned
offence, for the purpose of sentencing, he has to be dealt with in
accordance with the provisions contained in Section 15 thereof.
As per clause ( g ) of sub-section (1) of Section 15 of the Juvenile
Justice Act, the maximum period for which the appellant could
be sent to a special home is a period of three years.
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13. Under the given circumstances, the question is what relief
should be granted to the appellant at this juncture. Indisputably,
the appellant has been in prison for the last many years and,
therefore, at this distant time, it will neither be desirable nor
proper to refer him to the Juvenile Justice Board. Accordingly,
we follow the course adopted in Bhola Bhagat v. State of Bihar ;
sustain the conviction of the appellant for the offence for which
he has been found guilty by the Sessions Court, as affirmed by
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the High Court and at the same time quash the sentence
awarded to him.
14. Resultantly, the appeal is partly allowed to the extent
indicated above. We direct that the appellant shall be released
forthwith, if not required in any other case.”
23. Having regard to such a course adopted by this Court
in the above reported decisions, and in the case on hand based
on the report of the District and Sessions Judge, we are also
convinced that the appellant was below 18 years of age on the
date of commission of offence and the Juvenile Justice Act would
apply in full force in his case also. While upholding the conviction
imposed on the appellant, we set aside the sentence imposed on
him and direct that he be released forthwith, if not required in
any other case. The appeal is partly allowed to the extent
indicated above.
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…..……….…………………………...J.
[T.S. Thakur]
…………….………………………………J.
[Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla]
New Delhi;
August 29, 2012
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