A 66-year-old Vile Parle resident, who was found guilty of employing children and exploiting them, had challenged the circular claiming he was not a juvenile in conflict with the law, and thus, cannot be tried before the Board.
Adults who commit crimes against juveniles by inflicting any form of cruelty or forcing them to be beggars or child labourers will be tried by the Juvenile Justice Board, along with other juveniles in conflict with the law, and cannot claim that they should be tried by regular criminal courts as they are not minors, the Bombay High Court held? ?on Monday.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai upheld the circular issued by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, in April 2015, directing all magistrates that cases registered under sections 23 to 28 of the Juvenile Justice Act have to be exclusively presented before the Juvenile Justice Board for remand and filing of charge sheets.
A 66-year-old Vile Parle resident, who was found guilty of employing children and exploiting them, had challenged the circular claiming he was not a juvenile in conflict with the law, and thus, cannot be tried before the Board. He claimed the circular was illegal.
The prosecution, however, opposed the plea,? and argued, "In view of Clause (b) of Rule 10 of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) rules, jurisdiction is conferred on the Board to take cognizance of the offence punishable under the relevant sections, therefore there is nothing wrong with the said circular."
The court, after going through the rules and the law, stated that, "There is nothing either under the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 or under the rules framed for the functioning of the Board which confers a power on the board of transferring the case of adult offenders under section 23 to 26 and 28 to regular criminal courts after taking cognizance of the offences. Therefore, the offences will have to be tried by the Board. Accordingly, we find nothing illegal in the circular issued and thus dismiss the petition."
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