Judgment :

B. SUDERSHAN REDDY, J.

1. Criminal Miscellaneous Petition in Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 4724 of 2004 has been taken up and allowed. The Special Leave Petition shall stand restored to the file. Leave granted.

2. These appeals are directed against the common judgment and order dated 27th April, 2004 of the High Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Appeal Nos. 649 of 1987 and 14 of 1988 whereby the High Court dismissed the Criminal Appeals filed by the appellants, confirmed their conviction for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of I.P.C. for committing murder of one Surender Choudhary and accordingly sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment.

3. When the matter came up for hearing, Shri K.V. Vishwanathan, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant Lakhan Lal, submitted that since at the time of commission of the said offence, the appellant had not completed 18 years of age, he was a `juvenile' within the meaning of Section 2(k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as "the 2000 Act") and therefore, the order of sentence passed against the appellant for the offence commit