Juvenile Being Tried As Adult No Bar To Grant Of Bail Under Section 12 JJ Act: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court reaffirmed, when giving bail to a delinquent, that under Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a juvenile in conflict with the law, even if tried as an adult, would be entitled to specific conditions for grant of bail.
Without regard to the CrPC’s bail or release provisions, section 12 requires that a minor in conflict with the law be released on bail with or without sureties unless his “release is likely to bring that person into association with any known criminal or expose the said person to moral, physical, or psychological danger or the person’s release would defeat the ends of justice.” Case- Shubham @ Bablu Milind Suryavanshi Versus The State of Maharashtra
Justice Bharati Dangre ruled that even though he has been ordered to be prosecuted as an adult, he is still entitled to the protections of Section 12. Because the juvenile is being tried as an adult in a heinous case of murder, the court set aside the Children’s Court judgment denying bail on the grounds that the juvenile is not eligible for the benefit under S12 of the JJ Act.
FACTS OF THE CASE-
The applicant and a buddy were accused of stabbing a man to death with a glass shard, according to the prosecution. According to the JJB’s interpretation of section 15 of the JJ Act, the juvenile must be tried as an adult because he was older than 17 years and 11 months at the time of the occurrence and committed a serious offense.
After conducting an initial evaluation of the minor’s mental and physical capacity to commit such an offense and ability to understand the consequences of doing so, the JJB may send a minor between the ages of 16 and 18 to face trial as an adult if the crime is particularly heinous under Section 15 of the JJ Act.
After his bail application was denied by the Children’s court with jurisdiction over cases involving juvenile offenders because of the fact that he was not eligible for section 12 relief, he went to the HC. The state’s attorney argued that the accused is out of luck under Section 12 of the Act because the Sessions Court has ordered him to be tried as an adult.
JUDGEMENT AND ORDER-
When granting bail to a juvenile offender, the Bombay High Court confirmed the provisions of Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which provide for conditions to be imposed on the release of a juvenile offender even if they are tried as an adult.
Section 12 of the Criminal Procedure Code mandates that a minor in conflict with the law be released on bail with or without sureties unless his “release is likely to bring that person into association with any known criminal or expose the said person to moral, physical, or psychological danger or the person’s release would defeat the ends of justice.”
Based on two decisions from 2021 and 2020, Justice Dangre concluded that the accused was entitled to the protections of Section 12 of the JJ Act since it is special law that supersedes provisions of the CrPC.
Sandeep Ayodhya Prasad Rajak and Prasad Subhash Khade vs. State of Maharashtra (Bail Application No.1647 of 2020 determined on 18 March 2022) are the cases in question.
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Judgement reviewed by Deepa Bajaj.