Allahabad High Court
Xxx (Minor) vs State Of U.P. And Another on 30 August, 2022
Bench: Manju Rani Chauhan
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 83
Case :- CRIMINAL REVISION No. - 2010 of 2022
Revisionist :- Xxx (Minor)
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And Another
Counsel for Revisionist :- Shatrughan Yadav
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.
Heard learned counsel for the revisionist and learned A.G.A. for the State.
The present criminal revision under Section 102 of Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act, 2015 has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 20.04.2022 passed by Special Judge (P.O.C.S.O. Act), Chitrakoot in Criminal (Juvenile) Appeal No.16/2022 as well as against the order dated 25.11.2021 passed by Juvenile Justice Board, Chitrakoot in Bail Application No.18/2021 arising out of Case Crime No. 542/2020 under Sections 376-D, 343, 328/34, 392, 120-B I.P.C., Police Station Karvi, District Chitrakoot whereby the learned Juvenile Justice Board as well as learned appellate court refused the prayer of bail of accused-revisionist.
As per office report dated 23.07.2022, notice has been served personally upon opposite party no.2. In this regard the report of the concerned C.J.M is placed on record.
No one appears on behalf of opposite party no.2.
Learned counsel for the revisionist submits that the revisionist is a minor. For the alleged incident dated 28.09.2020, an FIR was lodged on 18.10.2020 against five persons, in which, all the other co-accused persons have already been released on bail. The bail orders have been collectively annexed as Annexure No.11 to the affidavit.
Learned counsel for the revisionist assailing the impugned orders submits that the revisionist was a juvenile on the date of the alleged incident dated 28.09.2020 and he has been declared juvenile vide order dated 02.11.2021 of Juvenile Justice Board, Chitrakoot treating the age of revisionist as 14 years 10 months and 10 days on the date of alleged incident. It is next submitted that aforesaid order declaring the revisionist as juvenile has attained finality because the same has not been challenged by the opposite party No.2. It is also not disputed that the revisionist has remained confined in juvenile home since 21.10.2020.
As to the offence alleged, it is submitted that the revisionist has falsely been implicated in the case with ulterior motive. In this regard, it is further stated that proper investigation was not conducted by the police and thus the revisionist had wrongly been charged with the offence.
It has been submitted that the Social Investigation Report filed in this case also does not raise any specific or strong objection against the revisionist being released and only general and unfounded objections and observation have been made therein. It is further being emphasized that the revisionist does not have any criminal antecedent to his credit. Lastly, it is submitted that there is no material on record for believing that the release of revisionist is likely to bring him into association with any known criminal or expose him to moral, psychological danger, therefore, aforesaid impugned orders are not sustainable and liable to be set aside and revisionist is entitled to be released on bail in view of Section 12 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act, 2015.
Per contra, learned AGA has vehemently opposed the present revision and submitted that there is allegation of rape against the revisionist, therefore, he is not entitled to be released on bail. He further submits that merely because the revisionist is a juvenile, it would not entitle him to bail without going into the gravity of the offence, the nature of the crime. It is also contended that the bail sought for has been rightly refused in view of Section 12(1) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act, 2015.
Having considered the arguments so advanced by learned counsel for the parties, it is seen that while it is true that a juvenile offender is not entitled as of right to be enlarged on bail, irrespective of any other fact or circumstance, however, it also cannot be denied that in view of specific and special legislative intent and intervention, refusal of bail in the case of a juvenile may be made only for specific reasons and circumstance. Otherwise, a general legislative presumption does appear to exist under the scheme of the Act that the welfare of alleged juvenile offender would be better served without he being confined for long duration. Here, the revisionist has remained in juvenile home since 21.10.2020.
The Court has to see whether the opinion of the learned appellate Court as well as Juvenile Justice Board recorded in the impugned judgment and orders are in consonance with the provision of Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Section 12 of the aforesaid Act lays down three contingencies in which bail could be refused to juvenile. They are:-
(1) if the release is likely to bring him into association with any known criminal, or
(2) expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or
(3) that his release would defeat the ends of justice.
Gravity of the offence has not been mentioned as a ground for rejection of bail in Section 12 of the aforesaid Act. Though the prayer for bail of the revisionist has been opposed by the learned AGA but he could not demonstrate from the record that there existed any of the grounds on which bail application of a juvenile could be rejected keeping in view the provisions of Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
Considering the above, it appears that the findings recorded by the learned Court below are erroneous and cannot be sustained. The aforesaid impugned orders dated 20.04.2022 and 25.11.2021 are hereby set aside.
Accordingly, the present criminal revision is allowed.
Let the revisionist involved in the aforesaid case crime be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of his uncle/legal guardian namely Budh Vilas who is his natural guardian with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) The revisionist shall not tamper with the evidence or threaten the witnesses;
(ii) The revisionist through guardian shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the date fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial Court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law;
(iii) The revisionist through guardian shall remain present before the trial Court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. In case of his absence, without sufficient cause, the trial Court may proceed against him under Section 229-A of the Indian Penal Code.
Order Date :- 30.8.2022
Madhurima/SFH
