The court affirmed that juveniles are entitled to bail under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, regardless of the offence's gravity, unless exceptional circumstances exist.

ORDER :

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner (juvenile-through their natural guardian) as well as learned Public Prosecutor and counsel for the respondents.

2. The allegation against the petitioner is of offence under Sections 302 & 201 of the IPC and under Sections 3(2)(V), 3(2) (VI) of SC/ST Act. The bail application filed by the petitioner under Section 102 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 before learned Juvenile Justice Board was rejected vide order dated 17.05.2023. Being aggrieved by the said order, an appeal was filed by the petitioner before the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Act Cases, Sirohi in Criminal Appeal No.23/2023 and the same has been dismissed by learned Appellate Court vide impugned order dated 24.05.2023.

3. Being aggrieved of the orders dated 17.05.2023 and 24.05.2023 passed by the Courts below, the petitioner have preferred this revision petition before this Court.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the main allegation of inflicting head injury is assigned to co-accused Shanki and weapon of offence (knife) has been recovered from him and no recovery of weapon has been made from the present petitioner. Challan of the case has already been presented. The juvenile is inside juvenile home since 06.05.2023. In these circumstances, bail may be granted to the petitioner. It is argued that learned Courts below have not appreciated the fact that the petitioner is juvenile and entitled to get benefit of provisions of the Act of 2015. Section 12 of the Act of 2015 clearly provides that if the accused is juvenile, then he should be released on bail, but learned Courts below fully ignored the provisions of the Act of 2015. The petitioner is in custody since long time and no further detention of the petitioner is required for any purpose. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submitted that the gravity of the offence committed cannot be a ground to decline bail to a juvenile.

5. On the other hand, learned Public Prosecutor defended the impugned order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board in declining the bail to the petitioner as also the judgment passed by the Appellate Court upholding the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board.

6. I have carefully considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and also perused the provisions of the Act of 2015.

7. The language of Section 12 of the Act of 2015 conveys the intention of the Legislature to grant bail to the juvenile, irrespective of nature or gravity of the offence, alleged to have been committed by him and bail can be denied only in the case where there appears reasonable grounds for believing that the release is likely to bring him into association with any known criminal, or expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or that his release would defeat ends of justice.

8. In this context, I have also scanned through and perused the orders passed by the courts below.

9. Having carefully examined provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act vis-a-vis the orders passed by the courts below, I do not find that any of the exceptional circumstances, to decline bail to a juvenile, as indicated in Section 12 of the Act of 2015, is made out. Moreover, the challan of the case has already been presented.

10. In view of the aforesaid discussion, this revision petition is allowed and the order dated 17.05.2025 passed by the learned Juvenile Justice Board as well as order dated 24.05.2023 passed by learned Special Judge, SC/ST Act Cases, Sirohi, declining bail to the petitioners are hereby set aside.

11. It is ordered that the juvenile accused-petitioner X S/o Ashok Kumar, shall be released on bail in FIR No.117/2023 of Abu Road City Police Station, Distt. Sirohi upon furnishing a personal bond by their natural guardians in the sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- each along with a surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of learned Judge Children Court; with the stipulation that on all subsequent dates of hearing, he shall appear before the said