LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court in a landmark judgment has held that the plea of juvenility could be raised even after 22 years throughout trial. It has permitted a sister-in regulation, who was a minor in 2000 on the time of dowry demise, to maneuver the plea earlier than the involved courtroom to get her case transferred to the (*22*) Justice Board (JJB) .
Pronouncing the decision, a bench of Justice Shree Prakash Singh stated, “The intent of the legislature is very clear from bare reading of the provisions of Section 7(A) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, which permits the accused to take the plea of being juvenile at the time of incident, seeking benefit of the Act at any stage of the case may it be pretrial, trial or even appeal.”
With this remark, the bench put aside the order of a decrease courtroom and requested the petitioner to file her plea of juvenility together with licensed courtroom of the order within the stated courtroom which might determine it inside the subsequent 45 days.
The bench handed the order just lately whereas deciding the plea of the sister-in-law, the petitioner, who alleged she was implicated within the case in the course of the yr 2000 when she was solely 13. She married and was dwelling together with her husband.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Sitapur, has issued a non-bailable warrant in opposition to her within the case.
When she filed her plea in search of switch of case to JJB, CJM rejected the plea on December 7, 2022, saying that the plea was raised after 22 years.
