Claim of juvenility can be raised before any Court, at any stage, even after final disposal of case : SC

Read Order: ASHOK v. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH 

Tulip Kanth

New Delhi, December 3, 2021:  In a case pertaining to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Supreme Court has observed that the claim of juvenility can be raised before any Court, at any stage, even after final disposal of the case.

The Division Bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice J.K.Maheshwari also mentioned that if the Court finds a person to be a juvenile on the date of commission of the offence, it is to forward the juvenile to the Board for passing appropriate orders, and the sentence, if any, passed by a Court, shall be deemed to have no effect.

By a judgment and order dated dated July 29,1999, the Additional Sessions Judge, Gohad, District Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, convicted the petitioner inter alia for offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to life imprisonment.In the cause title of the said judgment and order, the petitioner had been described as Ashok, S/o Balram Jatab age 16 yrs 9 months and 19 days, R/o Village Anjani Pura, District Bhind.

The petitioner filed an appeal challenging his conviction and sentence. The said criminal appeal was dismissed by the High Court, which has been impugned in the present Special Leave Petition, filed by the petitioner.

The incident which led to the conviction of the petitioner, took place on July 26,1997. It was claimed that the petitioner was born on January 5,1981. The petitioner was, therefore, approximately 16 years and 7 months old on the date of the incident.

The petitioner, in this petition, for the first time contended that he was a juvenile on the date of the incident. His conviction and sentence were, therefore, liable to be set-aside. The claim of juvenility was not raised in the High Court.

Referring to Section 7A of the 2000 Act as inserted by Act 33 of 2006, the Bench noticed that even though the offence in this case may have been committed before the enactment of the Act of 2000, the petitioner is entitled to the benefit of juvenility under Section 7A of the Act of 2000, if on inquiry it is found that he was less than 18 years of age on the date of the alleged offence.

Stating that the 2000 Act has been repealed and replaced by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Bench considered the fact that the Trial Court had recorded the age of the petitioner as 16 years and odd, and the petitioner has been in actual custody in excess of three years, which is the maximum for a juvenile.

Keeping these factors into consideration, the Top Court granted the petitioner interim bail on such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Sessions Court. The Bench also directed the Sessions Court to examine the claim of the petitioner to juvenility in accordance with law, and submit a report to this Court within one month.

In the event the documents are found to be questionable/unreliable, it will be open to the Sessions Court to have the petitioner medically examined by taking an ossification test or any other modern recognized method of age determination, clarified the Apex Court.