Mukeem vs State of Uttarakhand

Heard Mr. Shantanu Bhardwaj, Advocate with Mr. Gaurav Singh, Advocate for the revisionist and Mr. Subhash Tyagi Bhardwaj, Deputy Advocate General, for the State.

The revisionist is admittedly a juvenile who is in conflict with law and is presently an accused in a Case Crime No.95 of 2017, which has been registered under Section 377 of IPC and 3/4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, at ROP Jagjeetpur at Police Station Kankhal, District Haridwar.

The victim is allegedly of 9 years of age and the present revisionist being a juvenile is also of 14 years of age. The bail application of the present revisionist has been rejected by the Juvenile Justice Board, Haridwar vide order dated 26.09.2017. His appeal against the order dated 26.09.2017, has also been rejected by the appellate court vide order dated 31.10.2017. Hence, the present revision before this Court.

Consideration for grant of bail in the case of a juvenile who is in conflict with law is given under Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, where normally the bail has to be granted and the only condition where the bail can be refused is when there are reasonable grounds for believing that the release of a juvenile is likely to bring him into association with any known criminal or expose the said person to moral, physical or psychological danger or the person''s release would defeat the ends of justice.

In this case merely an apprehension has been raised by the Board and the appellate court. There is nothing on record to show that this apprehension is based on any material.

Therefore, the rejection orders passed by the Juvenile Justice Board and the Appellate Court do not seem to be correct. The two orders dated 26.09.2017 & 31.10.2017 passed by the Juvenile Justice Board, Haridwar and Special Judge POCSO/Additional Sessions Judge, Haridwar, respectively are hereby set aside.

The criminal revision is allowed. Let the revisionist be released on bail on furnishing of a reliable surety of any of his parents, of an equal amount to the satisfaction of the Magistrate/court concerned. It is made clear that Juvenile Justice Board shall ensure that the revisionist be handed over to his father, who has also filed his affidavit in the present matter.