‘Minors booked for attempt to murder can’t be tried as adults’

Source: Hindustan Times dated 20.12.2018

• Kanchan Chaudhari kanchan.chaudhari@hindustantimes.com
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• MUMBAI: Juveniles booked for attempt to murder cannot be tried as adults under provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) (JJ) Act, 2015, the Bombay high court (HC) held last week.

  The court was hearing a plea filed by the three accused challenging an order by the juvenile justice board at Sangli

  In January, the JJ board had referred Saurabh Nangre, Kunal Nangre and Vijay Nangre – who had completed 17 years of age at the time of the incident – for psychological evaluation. On July 13, the board, upon receipt of the report, referred them to the children’s court to be tried as adults.

  Under section 19 of the new JJ Act, the children’s court is required to reassess whether the children in conflict with law are required to be tried as adults or not. If it decides to try them as adults, the court itself conducts the trial. It keeps the children in protective custody till the age of 21, whereafter they are shifted to regular jails to serve the rest of their sentence.

  The accused challenged the JJ board’s decision, contending that they had not committed a ‘heinous crime.’
  Accordingly, they cannot be referred to the children’s court and must be tried by the board itself as children in conflict with the law. As per the JJ Act, a ‘heinous crime’ is defined as one that attracts a minimum punishment of seven years.

  Meanwhile, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) prescribes no minimum punishment for the charge.

  Justice Mridula Bhatkar struck down the district board’s order on the ground that attempt to murder is not a heinous crime, as contemplated under the JJ Act, 2015.

  “Under section 307 of the IPC, minimum punishment is not prescribed. But punishment may extend to ten years and fine, and if hurt is caused to any person, then punishment can be extended up to life imprisonment,” said the judge.

  “Thus, due to the benchmark of minimum punishment of seven years or more, section 307 of IPC cannot fall within the ambit of heinous offences,” she said.