BENGALURU: In a curious case of ignoring a 'glaring' fact, a minor at the time of committing a crime had to undergo 13 years of imprisonment for no fault of his.
The accused, Srinivas (name changed), who is now 37 years old, was convicted of kidnapping, murder and other charges in 1996. His advocate realised recently that his client was in fact a minor at the time of committing the crime after his co-accused was released recently under similar circumstances.
Even the other accused served time in jail for over 15 years when the maximum imprisonment under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 is three years.
Srinivas and his co-accused were of same age when they were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a minor boy from Hosadurga in 1996. They were convicted of demanding a ransom from the victim’s family, extortion, making the evidence disappear and giving false information to screen the offender. They were sentenced to life by the Supreme Court in 2005.
Srinivas realised, though quite late, that he was a minor when the crime was committed and that he could not have been prosecuted by any court other than the Juvenile Justice Board under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. He approached the court and also mentioned the release of the other accused under similar circumstances.
“He has already served 13 years in prison and it is unfortunate that the advocate appearing for the petitioner had overlooked this glaring circumstance leading to the accused suffering over the years. Given the tenor of Section 15 of the JJCPC Act, the petitioner could have been imprisoned only for a maximum period of three years and not more. The petition is allowed. The accused shall be set at liberty forthwith in terms of an earlier order of this court in WP No.41639/2015 dated 27.11.2015. The Registry is directed to send a copy of this order to the jail authorities for compliance, forthwith,” said Justice Anand Byrareddy in his order on July 28, 2016.
