This is an appeal by the accused Anthony alias Bakthavasalu, a young boy aged about 15 years, who has been convicted under section 376, Indian Penal Code and directed to be detained in the Senior Certified School, Chingleput, for a period of three years, by a Court of Juveniles, Egmore, Madras.. When this appeal was admitted, our learned brother Somasundaram, J. prepared a Memorandum pointing out that under rule 7 of the Rules framed under section 44 of the Madras Children Act, the procedure laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code (Act V of 1898) for the trial of summons cases has to be observed by the Juvenile Court in the trial of all cases, whether summons or warrant cases, but that this provision did not render it clear how precisely the Juvenile Court should proceed to try an offender for an offence exclusively triable by Court of Session, such as the present offence under section 376, Indian Penal Code. The learned Judge observed that the procedure to be followed by the Juvenile Court in such a case was not clear, either from the provisions of the Madras Children Act, or from the Rules framed thereunder.

The matter has been now placed before us, along with