important point
Principles of beneficial legislation are to be applied only for the purpose of interpretation of the statute and not for arriving at a conclusion as to whether a person is juvenile or not.

judgment

S.B. Sinha, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Appellant herein is said to be a delinquent juvenile. He was accused of commission of an offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for killing one of his school mates. He is said to have stabbed the deceased several times. The incident took place on 12.05.2000. His age was estimated at about 17 years as on the said date by the learned Magistrate before whom he was produced.

At that point of time, the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 (for short “the 1986 Act”) was in force. In terms of the provisions of the 1986 Act, “juvenile” meant a boy who had not attained the age of sixteen years. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (for short “the 2000 Act”) came into force with effect from 1.04.2001. “Juvenile” has been defined in the 2000 Act to mean a person who has not completed eighteen years of age. Section 16 of the 2000 Act, as it stood then, provides for a non-obstante clause prohibiting imposition of sentence to death or life imprisonment or commitment to person in default of payment of fine or in default of furnishing security, on a delinquent juvenile.

3. Section 20 of the 2000 Act, as it stood then, reads as under :

“20.Special provision in respect of pending cases .Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, all proceedings in respect of a juvenile pending in any court in any area on the date on which this Act comes into force in that area, shall be continued in that court as if this Act had not been passed and if the court finds that the juvenile has committed an offence, it shall record such finding and instead of passing any sentence in respect of the juvenile, forward the juvenile to the Board which shall pass orders in respect of that juvenile in accordance with the provisions of this Act as if it had been satisfied on inquiry under this Act that a juvenile has committed the offence.”

4. For examining the claim of the appellant that he was a juvenile as on the date of commission of the offence, two medical boards were constituted. The first medical board which examined him on 24.04.2001, opined his age to be between 18 to 19 years. The second medical board which was constituted on 29.06.2001 also opined similarly.

5. Before the learned ACJM, Buxar, some documents were also produced. However, the same were not taken into consideration by the courts below.

6. By an order dated 21.04.2005, the learned Additional Sessions Judge [FTC], Buxar held :

“–On 29.06.2001 the Medical Board was constituted under the Chairmanship of the Civil Surgeon, Buxar in which Jyoti Prakash was adjudged to be between 18 and 19 years. The board conducted ossification test and found the place of moustache to be black and also found the ancillary and Public Hair to be developed and on radiological findings the right wrist, right elbow and the chest appeared to be developed.

The medical board on 24.04.2001 has also adjudged the age of the accused Jyoti Prakash Rai to be between 18 and 19 years of age. The incident is dated 12.05.2000 and the medical board was constituted on 24.04.2001, which was after 11 months and 12 days from the date of occurrence. If by the date of occurrence and also the finding of the medical board of 19 years when 11 months and 12 days are subtracted then the age of the accused is more than 18 years. The New Act of 2000 and also the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court would be applicable only in the condition when on 01.04.2001 the age of the petitioner has not crossed 18 years.

As per the findings of the medical board the petitioner on 01.04.2001 was around 18 years 10 months and 19 days old. The Counsel for the petitioner has prayed that the case be sent to the Special Court. In respect of this there is a clear direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court that under Section 25 that if there is a clear direction of the court that a juvenile offender has committed a crime then only the child offender will be sent before the Board. In light of the above men