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Court though upheld the man's conviction, it cancelled the sentence imposed on him and ordered his release
The Supreme Court has set free a 29-year-old man even after upholding his conviction in a rape and murder case, after finding that he was a juvenile on the date of incident in 2013.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar cancelled the sentence of life imprisonment imposed upon the man by the Allahabad High Court for rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl.
The man was sentenced to death penalty by a court in Faizabad in 2018. However, the High Court on October 18, 2022, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
Before the apex court, the man (the appellant) raised a plea for juvenility. Court directed for inquiry into the matter by an order on September 17, 2024.
"We have gone through the report submitted by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Faizabad/Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, after conducting a detailed enquiry as to the age of the appellant, X (identity has been suppressed), and opining that, as per the records, he was born on 05.07.1995. Accordingly, he would have been less than 18 years of age on the date of the occurrence/commission of offence, i.e., 29.01.2013," the bench said.
Court also noted that the counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh did not contest the report given by the JJB.
"We have also examined the said report and the reasons given therein and do not find any good ground and reason to take a different view. The appellant, X, is accordingly directed to be treated as a juvenile on the date of the occurrence/commission of offence," the bench said.
The appellant's counsel submitted that he was not pressing the appeal on merits in the light of his claim of juvenility being accepted and, accordingly, his conviction for the offences punishable under Sections 376 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 might be confirmed.
"As we have accepted the report given by the JJB, we accept the prayer made by the counsel for the appellant. Accordingly, the conviction of the appellant, X, is upheld but the sentence imposed on him, treating him as an adult as on the date of the occurrence/commission of the offence, is treated as cancelled/waived. The appellant, X, is directed to be released in accordance with law, if not warranted to be detained in any other matter," the bench ordered.
Case Title: X Vs State of UP
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