Supreme Court orders Medical Practitioner to plant 100 trees for offence committed as Juvenile
Murali Krishnan July 14 2019
The Supreme Court has ordered a medical practitioner to plant 100 trees as punishment for an offence committed by him in 2004 when he was a Juvenile.
The order was passed by a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta.
The petitioner was convicted by the trial court under Section 307 IPC and sentenced to three years imprisonment. The order of conviction and sentence was affirmed by the High Court.
This led to the appeal in Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, an application under Section 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act, 2015 (Juvenile Justice Act, 2015) was filed by the petitioner seeking a declaration that he was a Juvenile on the date of the offence in the disposed of Special Leave Petition.
The Supreme Court, therefore, directed the District and Sessions Judge, Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal to conduct an enquiry under Section 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 regarding the Juvenility of the petitioner on the date of offence i.e. August 28, 2004 and submit a report.
Pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court, enquiry was conducted and a report of District and Sessions Judge, Berhampore, Murshidabad was placed before the Court.
As per the report, the petitioner was 16 years 7 months and 28 days on the date of offence. The Court also noted that school records have been verified and found to be genuine and there was no other evidence to show that the school records cannot be relied upon.
The Court, therefore, accepted that the petitioner was a Juvenile at the time of the commission of offence. In such a scenario, the usual course adopted is to refer the matter to the Juvenile Justice Board to be dealt with as per Juvenile Justice Act.
However, since fifteen years had passed since the commission of the offence and the petitioner was currently 32 years old and a medical practitioner, the Court felt that it is not appropriate to send the petitioner to be dealt with by the Board.
Instead, the Court stated that it was of the opinion that the ends of justice would be met by directing the petitioner to perform community service.
The counsel for the state suggested that this obligation of performing community service could be met with by a direction to the petitioner to plant trees.
The Court accepted the same and directed the petitioner to plant 100 trees within a period of one year.
The sentence of imprisonment against the petitioner was also set aside and the Court ordered that he be released forthwith.
Murali Krishnan July 14 2019
The Supreme Court has ordered a medical practitioner to plant 100 trees as punishment for an offence committed by him in 2004 when he was a Juvenile.
The order was passed by a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta.
The petitioner was convicted by the trial court under Section 307 IPC and sentenced to three years imprisonment. The order of conviction and sentence was affirmed by the High Court.
This led to the appeal in Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, an application under Section 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act, 2015 (Juvenile Justice Act, 2015) was filed by the petitioner seeking a declaration that he was a Juvenile on the date of the offence in the disposed of Special Leave Petition.
The Supreme Court, therefore, directed the District and Sessions Judge, Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal to conduct an enquiry under Section 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 regarding the Juvenility of the petitioner on the date of offence i.e. August 28, 2004 and submit a report.
Pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court, enquiry was conducted and a report of District and Sessions Judge, Berhampore, Murshidabad was placed before the Court.
As per the report, the petitioner was 16 years 7 months and 28 days on the date of offence. The Court also noted that school records have been verified and found to be genuine and there was no other evidence to show that the school records cannot be relied upon.
The Court, therefore, accepted that the petitioner was a Juvenile at the time of the commission of offence. In such a scenario, the usual course adopted is to refer the matter to the Juvenile Justice Board to be dealt with as per Juvenile Justice Act.
However, since fifteen years had passed since the commission of the offence and the petitioner was currently 32 years old and a medical practitioner, the Court felt that it is not appropriate to send the petitioner to be dealt with by the Board.
Instead, the Court stated that it was of the opinion that the ends of justice would be met by directing the petitioner to perform community service.
The counsel for the state suggested that this obligation of performing community service could be met with by a direction to the petitioner to plant trees.
The Court accepted the same and directed the petitioner to plant 100 trees within a period of one year.
The sentence of imprisonment against the petitioner was also set aside and the Court ordered that he be released forthwith.
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