S. Talapatra, J.

1. The convicts filed this revisional application under Section 401 of the Cr. P.C. against the judgment and order dated 22.08.2012 as passed by the Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Agartala in Crl. Appl. No. 25(3)/2011, upholding the judgment of conviction as passed by the Juvenile Justice Board in Juvenile Case No. 3 of 2008, however, reducing the sentence from three years under Section 302 of IPC to two years of detention. The brief fact is required to be noted for appreciation.

The convicts namely, Sri. Raju Sarkar and Sri. Swapan Sarkar, hereinafter would be referred to as the petitioners, were alleged to have murdered one Arun Das. The information as lodged by one Swapna Das, revealed that at about 6.15 pm on 5.5.2004, the informant and her sister namely, Smt. Ratna Das heard the deceased crying for help. On hearing the cry they rushed to the place of occurrence, a lemon orchard, and found the petitioners assaulting their brother, the deceased, with dao and lathi. Having seen them in the place of occurrence, the petitioners fled away. The informant and her sister found deep cut injury on the neck of the deceased, who was at that point of time lying in a pool of blood. They raised alarm and having been attracted by their alarm, some persons from the nearby place appeared in the place of occurrence. The informant arranged transportation of the deceased to the Teliamura hospital, where from he was referred to the GBP hospital, Agartala.

2. On the basis of the said information, the Teliamura P.S. Case No. 22/04 under Sections 326/34 of IPC was registered and endorsed for investigation. Since the deceased succumbed to the injures, on 30.9.2004 the case was also allowed to be investigated under Sections 302/34 of IPC as well as under Section 379 read with Section 109 of IPC. On completing the investigation, the chargesheet was filed to the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Khowai, West Tripura, who took cognizance of the offences and thereafter committed the case to the court of the Addl. Sessions Judge, Khowai, West Tripura by the order dated 24.04.2006. Initially, the Addl. Sessions Judge framed the charge under Sections 302/34 of IPC against the petitioners and another Sachindra Nama. The petitioners herein filed an application to the Addl. Sessions Judge, Khowai, West Tripura, claiming juvenility and produced the necessary documents for purpose of inquiry under Section 7A of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 read with Rule 14 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. For the said purpose, the matter was referred to the Juvenile Justice Board and the trial of Sri Sachindra Nama was adjourned till such decision is arrived by the Juvenile Justice Board on the application of the petitioners. The Juvenile Justice Board held that the petitioners were juvenile at the time of the offence as alleged and accordingly the inquiry by the Juvenile Justice Board, hereinafter would be referred as 'the Board' was carried out.

3. In the course of inquiry, the prosecution examined as many as 16 witnesses and exhibited 9 documentary evidence (Exbt.-1 to Exbt.-9) and also relied on some material objects (Exbt. M.O.-1 to Exbt. M.O.-8). After closure of the prosecution evidence, the juveniles, the petitioners herein were examined under Section 313 of Cr. P.C. on explaining the circumstances that had appeared in the evidence against them, but they claimed innocence. However, the petitioners adduced two witnesses as the DW.1 and the DW.2 in support of their claim of innocence. The Board, thereafter, heard the prosecution as well as the defence at length. On appreciation of the submissions as made and on meticulous scrutiny of the evidence as adduced both by the prosecution and the defence, the Board held that there were sufficient materials to hold the petitioners guilty of the offence under Sections 302/34 of IPC. The Board returned the finding of conviction recording t