Guidelines laid down for dealing with such cases
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 8: Principal Sessions Judge Kulgam Tahir Khurshid Raina has set aside the order of Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) Kulgam whereby accused in heinous offence of murder have been bailed out without following the due course of law. Moreover, the Sessions Judge has laid down guidelines to be followed while granting bail to juveniles by the Boards.
The case before the Principal Sessions Judge was that Juvenile Justice Board has bailed out the accused who were involved in heinous offence of murder without application of mind and strictly adhering to the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act.
After analyzing the record of the Juvenile Justice Board and the Police report, the Principal Sessions Judge observed, “no exercise as mandated under the Act has been carried out by the Board while granting bail to the respondents. Rather same has been done as if the Board was acting as a pure criminal court”, adding “the bail has been granted on the basis of police report and not on the basis of a social investigation report supposed to be done by a probation officer or any child welfare officer or a social worker”.
“Moreover, as per the impugned order, the respondents have been handed over to their maternal uncle by declaring him as the fit person for care and protection of respondents. But the fact remains that the so-called fit person is himself involved in a criminal case”, the court said, adding “the nature of offences alleged to be committed by the so-called fit person reflects that he himself is a morally depraved person”.
“It seems that the JJ Board was rushing towards grant of bail without realizing its responsibilities. I don’t find the order impugned legally surviving when tested on the touchstone of two conditions for denial of bail under Section 12 of the Act”, the Principal Sessions Judge said, adding “the Board should have considered various aspects of the case like as to how and under what circumstances the alleged killing of the deceased took place, what was the modus operandi of the accused and what were the circumstances which led to the commission of crime”.
“Addressing all these grounds of denial of bail is not a casual exercise or a mere formality to be fulfilled by the Board but quite mandatory in terms of proviso to Sub-Section 1 of Section 12 of the Act”, the court said, adding “the mandate of Section 15 is mandatory vis-à-vis bail is concerned to have been invoked in the very first instance as provided under Section 14 of the Act—assessment exercise has to start on the very first production of such a child before the Board”.
Stating that neither the exceptions as put in Sub-Section 1 of Section 12 of the Act for denial of bail have been properly appreciated by the Board nor the requirements of Section 15 have been complied with, the court said, “the impugned order doesn’t sustain on both counts as such the same is set-aside and bail bonds are cancelled”.
The court also directed the JJB Kulgam to proceed in the matter afresh in accordance with the law governing the field. Moreover, it has been made clear that on production of respondents before the Board, they will be sent to Observation Home and their release will be subject to decision in the bail application.
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