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Noting that the accused woman had already undergone incarceration for a period of more than eight years, court said that no purpose would be served by sending her before the Juvenile Justice Board
The Supreme Court has set free a woman in a murder case even as she has undergone eight years of imprisonment, after finding that she was a minor, less than 18 years of age, at the time offence in year 2000.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan set aside Chhattisgarh High Court's order of May 3, 2010 and Additional Sessions Judge, Sarguja's judgement of June 30, 2003, holding the woman guilty of offences under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC and sentencing her to imprisonment for life.
The appellant raised the issue of juvenility during the course of hearing by filing an interlocutory application. On September 13, 2023, court directed the Sessions Court to hold an enquiry into that aspect of issue of juvenility.
A report was filed stating that the date of birth of the appellant is September 1, 1982 and, therefore, on June 15, 2000, the date of the occurrence of the offence, the age of the appellant was 17 years, 09 months and 14 days.
The statements of the witnesses as well as the documents produced on record during the inquiry were sent to the top court.
"A perusal of the report shows that apart from other documents, reliance has been placed on the entries in the school leaving register of the school last attended by the appellant. This document is of the year 1988. The name of the appellant appears at serial no 369 and her date of birth shown therein is 1st September, 1982. Even the primary certificate examination result-sheet of 1995 shows the same date of birth," the bench noted.
Top Court, therefore, proceeded on the footing that on the date on which the incident constituting the offence took place, the age of the appellant was less than 18 years.
"The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was admittedly not in force when the incident occurred. Therefore, the case will be governed by the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986. Under clause (h) of Section 2 of the 1986 JJ Act, a ‘juvenile’ has been defined to mean a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years or a girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years," the bench pointed out.
Therefore, the court concluded, the appellant ought to have been dealt with in accordance with Section 21 of the 1986 JJ Act.
"The maximum action which could have been taken against the appellant was of sending her to a special home. In the case of a girl of sixteen years of age, she could have been sent to a special home for a period of not less than three years. As per Section 22(1) of the 1986 JJ Act, there was a prohibition on sentencing a juvenile to undergo imprisonment. There is a similar provision under Section 16 of the 2000 JJ Act," the bench said.
It further opined that as the appellant had undergone incarceration for a period of more than eight years, no purpose will be served by sending the appellant before the Juvenile Justice Board.
Case Title: Pramila vs. State of Chhattisgarh
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