The Supreme Court has released a man who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder two years after committing the offence due to the realization of the fact that the man was underage. The court especially made a crucial decision regarding juvenile issues in the area of juvenile justice, whereby the court affirmed a proposition that an individual can claim juvenile status even after the finality of the convictions. The bench of BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh held that such a provision of law is found in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and thereby affirmed that juvenile rights shall not be violated regardless of when such claims are lifted.
The court underlined that based on Indian legislation, even in the case of a final judgment, a person is allowed to appeal juvenility. it also further expanded that juvenility is a constitutional right that cannot be waived on the basis of any technicality or otherwise on account of delay. The bench based their decision on previous similar cases, one of these including the constitution of India’s SC judgment in Abuzar Hossain Vs State of West Bengal of the year 2012, where the bench affirmed that juvenility can be claimed at any stage of the whole proceeding, this sets a precedence for the subsequent cases.
It resulted in the discharge of Brijnandan, who in 2022 was under a life sentence on a murder conviction of 2002. After the prosecution of his appeal, Brijnandan applied for a stay, claiming that he was a juvenile at the time he committed the offence. Finally, he pleaded that school records prove that he was 17 years old at the time of the offence.
After the application, the Supreme Court directed a detailed investigation by a special judge in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. Through this inquiry, the birthdate of Brijnandan, October 4, 1984, was established, and, therefore, the boy was 17 years old at the time of the incident.
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