Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Chet Ram vs State Of U.P. on 22 September, 2014
Bench: J. Chelameswar, A.K. Sikri
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) No.9028 OF 2012
Chet Ram … Petitioner
Versus
State of U.P. … Respondent
ORDER
The petitioner Chet Ram and his father Natthu Lal were tried by the Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge, Bareily in Sessions Trial Nos.421 of 1994 under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and Sessions Trial No.422 of 1994 under Sections 4/25 and 25 of the Arms Act. Both the accused were found guilty of both the charges and were sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and rigorous imprisonment for one year under Section 25(1)(a) and 25(1)(b) of the Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Deepak Mansukhani Arms Act respectively.
Date: 2014.09.2514:52:59 IST Reason: 1 Aggrieved by the judgment and order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge, the petitioner Chet Ram appealed to the High Court of Allahabad unsuccessfully and hence the instant petition.
In view of the specific plea of the petitioner that he is entitled to the benefit of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 as he was a juvenile on the date of the commission of the offence of which he was accused and found guilty, this Court on 09.11.2012 recorded an order as follows:
“Having regard to the provisions of Section 7A of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act, 2000, as amended, let notice issue on the question of the petitioner’s alleged juvenility on the date of commission of the offence.” Subsequently, by an order dated 07.10.2013, this Court directed the District & Sessions Judge, Bareilly to conduct an inquiry into the plea of juvenility raised by the petitioner.
In view of the said direction, the learned Additional Sessions Judge conducted an inquiry into the matter and submitted a report on 28.11.2013 to the effect that the petitioner Chet Ram was not a juvenile on the date of the commission of offence and, therefore, not entitled to benefit of the abovementioned Act. 2 It is stated by the petitioner Chet Ram that he passed 10 th class examination in 2011 and produced the relevant document evidencing the fact that he passed the said examination in 2011. In the said document, his date of birth is recorded as 13.6.1977 but the said document is based on the earlier records of the first school which he initially attended, allegedly in the year 1982.
The incident in question took place on 19.10.1993. The Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge convicted the petitioner on 18.7.1995. According to the petitioner, his date of birth is 13.6.1977 and he was 16 years old on the date of the commission of offence, which in turn is based on the earlier school records. The Additional Sessions Judge on examination of the records found that the earlier school records are unreliable as he observed certain overwritings and tampering in the records.
We do not see any reason to doubt the correctness of the report of the learned Additional Sessions Judge. He gave elaborate and cogent reasons for coming to his conclusion. We do not see any reason to interfere in the conclusion recorded by the Additional Sessions Judge. Therefore, the plea of the petitioner that he is entitled to the benefit of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of 3 Children) Act, 2000 is unsustainable. Even otherwise, we see no merits in the special leave petition. The special leave petition is dismissed.
………………………….J. (J. Chelameswar) ……………………..….J. (A.K. Sikri) New Delhi;
September 22, 2014
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ITEM NO.28 COURT NO.9 SECTION II
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 9028/2012
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 18/05/2012 in CRLA No. 1161/1995 passed by the High Court Of Judicature at Allahabad) CHET RAM Petitioner(s) VERSUS STATE OF U.P. Respondent(s) (with appln. (s) for bail and exemption from filing O.T. and office report) Date : 22/09/2014 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J. CHELAMESWAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.K. SIKRI For Petitioner(s) Mr. Apoorva Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AAG Mr. Ameet Singh, Adv.
Ms. Alka Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Anuvrat Sharma,Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The special leave petition is dismissed in terms of the signed order.
(DEEPAK MANSUKHANI) (INDU BALA KAPUR)
COURT MASTER COURT MASTER
(Signed order is placed on the file)
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