Allahabad High Court
Juvenile X vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others on 28 July, 2023
Bench: Subhash Chandra Sharma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:151592
Court No. - 80
Case :- CRIMINAL REVISION No. - 2161 of 2022
Revisionist :- Juvenile X
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others
Counsel for Revisionist :- Man Bahadur Singh,Indra Deo Yadav,Yashpal Yadav
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Sanjay Kumar Yadav
Hon'ble Subhash Chandra Sharma,J.
Heard Sri Man Bahadur Singh, learned counsel for the revisionist as well as Sri Surya Pratap Singh holding brief of Sri Sanjay Kumar Yadav, learned counsel for the opposite party alongwith learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material on record.
The present criminal revision has been preferred by the revisionist through his father under Section 102 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act-2015 (hereinafter referred to as "J.J. Act, 2015) to allow the present revision and set aside the impugned judgment and order dated 05.05.22 passed by Additional Session Judge (Rape & POCSO Act), Azamgarh in Criminal Appeal No.1000025/2022, u/s 377 I.P.C. & 5/6 POCSO Act, Police Station Kaptanganj, District Azamgarh arising out of Case Crime No.0017, u/s 377 I.P.C. & 3/4 POCSO Act, Police Station Kaptanganj, District Azamgarh and also prays to release the revisionist/delinquent on bail in the aforesaid case.
It is submitted that in this case the delinquent/applicant was aged about 16 years, 6 months and was juvenile at the time of alleged incident. Further submitted that on account of village rivalry he was named in the F.I.R. falsely. The statement of the victim/boy was also concocted and tutored. During medical examination neither any internal injury nor any bleeding was found to suggest that sodomy was done with the victim but the injury found on the anus of the victim was caused somewhere else. The report submitted by the D.P.O. is also not adverse for the present delinquent even though the juvenility of the delinquent was not considered either by the J.J. Board or by the appellate court and also the provisions as contained u/s 12 of the aforesaid Act were not considered by the courts below while passing the aforesaid orders. The delinquent is in Juvenile Care Home since 28.01.2022 (more than one and a half years) and his psychology is being affected adversely, therefore, requested to set aside the orders passed by the J.J. Board as well as appellate court and allow the present criminal revision as the orders passed by the courts below cannot be said to be in conformity with law.
Learned counsel for the opposite party as well as learned A.G.A. opposed the prayer as aforesaid and urged that in this case the delinquent has committed the offence of sodomy with the victim who was of tender age. Further urged that the injury on the person of the victim shows that the incident was committed by him, therefore, he cannot be said to be innocent.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submission made by learned counsel for the revisionist as well as learned A.G.A., perusal of record, the provisions as contained u/s 12 of Juvenile Justice Act, the report submitted by the District Probation Officer and the confessional statement of other co-accused persons and the role of the present delinquent, it appears that Juvenile Justice Board as well as the appellate court had not considered the relevant provisions and the material on record in well manner but passed the orders without applying their judicial mind. In this way, there appears ground in this revision and the orders passed by the Juvenile Justice Board as well as learned appellate court are liable to be set aside.
Accordingly, the orders passed by Juvenile Justice Board dated 22.03.2022 and the appellate court dated 05.05.2022 are, hereby, set aside and the present criminal revision is hereby, allowed.
It is directed that delinquent/father be released on bail in the aforesaid case on executing person bond by the revisionist (father of the delinquent) and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Juvenile Justice Board concerned on following conditions :-
(i) The natural guardian/father will furnish an undertaking that upon release on bail the revisionist will not be permitted to go into contact or association with any known criminal or allowed to be exposed to any moral, physical, or psychological danger and further that the father will ensure that the juvenile will not repeat the offence.
(ii) The natural guardian/father will further furnish an undertaking to the effect that the juvenile will pursue his study at the appropriate level which he would be encouraged to do besides other constructive activities and not be allowed to waste his time in unproductive and excessive recreational pursuits.
(iii) Juvenile and the natural guardian/father will report to the Probation Officer on the first Monday of every calendar month.
(iv) The Probation Officer will keep a strict vigil on the activities of the juvenile and regularly draw up his social investigation report that would be submitted to the Juvenile Justice Board concerned on such a periodical basis as the Juvenile Justice Board may determine.
Order Date :- 28.7.2023
Ashok Gupta
