Juvenility plea valid even after final conviction: Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that a claim of juvenility can be raised at any stage, even after a conviction and sentence have attained finality. A division bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh made this significant observation while acquitting an accused in a murder case, who had filed a juvenility plea post-conviction.

Supreme Court Reaffirms Juvenility Claim Validity at Any Stage

The case involved Brijnandan @ Brajesh Sharma, who was convicted in a 2002 murder case under Sections 302, 307, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act. After various legal proceedings, including an acquittal by the High Court that was later overturned by the Supreme Court, the accused filed a plea claiming he was a juvenile at the time of the offense.

The Court observed, “Although the application has been filed subsequent to the conviction ordered by this Court, we have regard to the judgment of this Court… that an application for claiming juvenility may be made even after the judgment and order of conviction and sentence has been granted against a person, which has attained finality.”

Sessions Court Inquiry Confirms Accused’s Juvenility Leading to Acquittal

Addressing the juvenility claim, the Supreme Court directed a Sessions Court inquiry, which confirmed the accused’s date of birth as October 4, 1984. This made him 17 years, 3 months, and 13 days old at the time of the offense on January 17, 2002. The inquiry involved the examination of multiple witnesses, including the accused’s mother and his school headmaster.

Despite the State’s objection regarding the belated claim and discrepancies in the accused’s name across various documents, the Court upheld the juvenility claim. The bench noted, “Bearing in mind the aforesaid judgments and the report submitted by the learned Sessions Judge, pursuant to the directions of this Court, we find that the date of birth of the applicant has been proved to be 04.10.1984.”

Based on these findings, the Court set aside the conviction and acquitted the accused.
[Read Judgment]