The Hon’ble Supreme Court earlier today held that the delay in raising the claim of juvenility is no ground for rejection of such a claim.
The Hon’ble SC while pronouncing also stated that such a claim can be raised at any stage, even after the final disposal of the case.
The Hon’ble bench given an application filed by one of the convicts along with others under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”, 1860) sentenced with imprisonment for life concerning an incident which took place on 30-11-1982.
In the application filed by one of the convicts, placed reliance on a school certificate, to contend that the date of birth is 08-10-1965 and on the date of the occurrence i.e. 30-11-1982 the convict in the present case was only 17 years, 1 month, and 22 days of age. The petition of juvenility had possibly not been taken before the Hon’ble Trial Court as the trial was concluded and the applicant was convicted before the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was enacted.
However, Section 2(k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, denies a “juvenile” or “child” as a person who has not completed eighteen years of age. A person who was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offense is entitled to protection.
To which the Hon’ble court stated and held that “the claim of juvenility may be raised at any stage, even after the final disposal of the case” in the matter of Abuzar Hossain @ Gulam Hossain vs. State of West Bengal reported in (2012) 10 SCC 489. The Hon’ble Court also opined that “the delay in raising the claim of juvenility is no ground for rejection of such a claim. Similar view has been taken in numerous subsequent cases of this Court.”
The Hon’ble court additionally noted that under Section 2(k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, it denies a “juvenile” or “child” as a person who has not completed eighteen years of age. A person who was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offense is entitled to the protection, it said.
The Hon’ble court, therefore, directed the Hon’ble District and Sessions Judge to conduct an inquiry into the juvenility of the applicant and submit a report to this Hon’ble Court within one month from the date. The court also directed that the convict shall be released on bail on such conditions as may be imposed by the Hon’ble District and Sessions Judge
Case: Ram Chandra vs. State of Uttar Pradesh [SLP (Crl) 8633/2017]
Coram: Justices Indira Banerjee and Krishna Murari
Counsel: Sr. Adv S.R. Singh, AOR Sarvam Ritam Khare, Adv T.S. Sabarish.
Citation: LL 2021 SC 172
