The court ruled that failure to conduct timely and proper assessments under the Juvenile Justice Act invalidates the trial of a juvenile as an adult, emphasizing adherence to statutory timelines.

JUDGMENT

Nidhi Gupta, J.

CRM-39770-2023

This is an application under Section 5 of Limitation Act, read with Section 482 Cr.P.C. for condonation of delay of 26 days in filing the present petition.

After going through the contents of the application, which is supported by affidavit of the applicant/petitioner, the same is allowed subject all just exceptions, and delay of 26 days in filing the present petition is condoned.

Main Case

Challenge in the present petition is to the orders dated 25.05.2023 passed by learned Special Court/ASJ (Fast Track), POCSO, Palwal, dismissing the appeal filed by the present petitioner under Section 101(2) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (hereinafter to be referred as 'the JJ Act') laying challenge to the order dated 24.04.2023 passed by learned Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Palwal, whereby it has been directed that the petitioner will be tried as an adult.

2. Learned counsel submits that as per the complaint given by the mother of the victim (complainant) to the police, it has been alleged that on 29.03.2022 at about 8:00 PM daughter of the complainant was out of her house when present petitioner (Aarif) lured and abducted her. On the basis of the said statement of the complainant present FIR No.66 dated 30.03.2022 was registered under Sections 363 and 366A IPC at Police Station Bahin, District Palwal (Annexure PI) against the petitioner.

3. Learned counsel submits that in actual fact the petitioner and the alleged victim were in a consensual relationship. As such, the allegations made in the FIR are patently untrue. However, be as it may, at the time of commission of alleged offence the petitioner was a juvenile/child-in-conflict with law. The date of alleged incident is 29.03.2022. Date of birth of the petitioner is 13.03.2005. As such, on the date of incident, the petitioner was 16 years 11 months and 14 days old. However, without ascertaining the age of the petitioner he was arrested on 17.6.2022, and lodged in jail with hard-core criminals for 7 months.

4. Thereafter, upon an application made by the petitioner the learned Special Court/ASJ (Fast Track) POCSO, Palwal, vide order dated 02.01.2023 (AnnexureP5/R6) declared the petitioner a juvenile. Consequentially, the petitioner was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on 04.01.2023, and a preliminary assessment of the petitioner was conducted under Section 15(1) of JJ Act, in respect of which report dated 28.03.2023 (Annexure R7) was submitted. Thereafter, psychological assessment of the petitioner was made on 19.04.2023 (Annexure R8), on the basis of which it was recommended that the petitioner be tried as an adult as it was opined that he has sufficient understanding of the consequences of his offence. Learned Counsel contends that as per provision of Section 15 of the JJ Act, it is required that the above said assessments of the petitioner be made within a period of three months; however, in the present case, this was done after a period of 10 months, instead of within the stipulated time. Ld. Counsel states that even no copy of the reports was supplied to the petitioner. It is accordingly submitted that the impugned orders are vitiated on this short ground and therefore deserve to be set aside, and the petitioner cannot be tried as an adult, as the process of law has not been complied with.

5. Learned counsel submits that, notwithstanding the above legal requirement, the appeal filed by the petitioner has also been dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Palwal, vide order dated 25.05.2023 by observing that the preliminary assessment of the petitioner is to be done at the time of commission of offence and the impact of custody on the petitioner is not to be seen under Section 15 of the JJ Act. It is further contended that the impugned orders have been passed without any finding as required under section 15 of the JJ Act.

6. In support, learned counsel relies upon judgment of the