Sanat Kumar Sinha vs State of Bihar and others

What numerous agencies enjoined upon this task have failed to do has been done by the petitioner of this application in the form of a public interest petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. The court in Bihar--the prosecuting and defence agencies and the accused thus have been quite oblivious of the benefits flowing to a juvenile accused in criminal prosecution endowed by the Juvenile Justice Act, the decision of the Supreme Court in numerous cases including one in Sheela Barse (II) and Others Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Others, and several decisions of this court reported in 1984 BBCJ 749 (The State of Bihar vs. Ramadaras Ahir and ors.) 1985 PLJR 946 (The State of Bihar vs. Maksudan Singh), 1986 PLJR 767 (Madheshwardhari Singh and anr. vs. The State of Bihar), and 1989 PLJR 507 (Krishna Bhagwan vs. The State of Bihar) three of which are now subject to scrutiny by the apex court before a Constitutional Bench at the instance of the State of Bihar. There is no manner of doubt that speedy disposal is the sine qua non of all proceedings--whether civil or criminal in a Court of law. Whatever the system--Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Shastriya or Shariat, the basic element in all is that a wrong doer should be indicted--tried, if found guilty--punished--if found innocent delivered of his sufferings. In India, delay in criminal trials has, by itself, assumed the character of punishment with all concerned--if I may say so with apology--contributing to it. In spite of the well known legal situation, it was left to the petitioner to bring to the notice of this Court with the amicus curiae assistance of certain lawyers endowed with zeal and fervour to bring justice to the door of the poorest and the helpless juveniles offenders who are victims of judicial apathy and whose cases are pending in numerous courts of Bihar and are in custody or in detention or detained in large numbers beyond the period required by law. It seems that the petitioner and his counsel have heard the anguish cries of the juvenile offenders which feeling has been appropriately expressed in a couplet of Dr. Ikbal, the famous philospher and poet who says--

Azad'' Mujhko ker deo qaid karne wale; Mai bejba hun qaidi tu chhor ker dekhle.

It is indeed sad, if we may save so with apology, that inspire of numerous legal pronouncements the Courts have also not controlled the proceedings in the manner required by law and this state of affairs was not discovered and remedied in spite of continuous watch by the District Judges concerned.

We have, therefore, no option but to act in a drastic manner as is being done by us in this application.

By order dated 30:3.1989, we called for a list of cases from all the District Judges of Bihar pending in their districts u/s 27 (3) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1980, including the list of accused persons in the case with their ages. They have arrived from a large number of judgeships. The facts reveal horrendous and utterly shocking state of affairs in regard to such persons who may one day be the future flower of the garden of India but are about to be blighted by the indifference of our society in all sphere. This judgement is our minor contribution towards protecting the buds of our garden from whithering away before they bloom. Let not society say about these boys what is said in the following couplet--

Phool to ek din bahare ja viden dekhla gaye Hasrat un guncho pe hai jo bin khile murjha gaye.

From the facts called out from the reports received from various courts by the efficient efforts of the counsels appearing in this case, it appears that not only in some cases investigations are pending but trials are going on for a period extending upto five years and in large number of cases juveniles are still in prisons. This state of affairs indicates a pathetic indifference to all concerned. We, therefore, direct that all criminal trials pending since three years or more be quashed to the extent as far as the trials of juveniles in custody are concerned and they are directed to be acquitted. They be released forthwith from custody or detention, as the case may be. Further, in relation to trials that are pending since less than three years, the court should act in accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and dispose them of, in relation to cases where punishment is upto seven years, in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court in Sheela Barse''s case (supra). In other cases, the court concerned should, after giving the prosecuting agency final opportunity to procure evidence as also to the defence to lead evidence, should close the case and proceed to dispose them of in accordance with law. All unnecessary adjournments which will cause delay in the trial should be avoided and trials where juveniles are involved be concluded as early as possible but definitely within one year from today in any event. It is also saddening to find that the juveniles are languishing in jail for a considerable period. Necessary orders in regard to their release on bail during the trial must be passed by the court concerned in accordance with this order.

The District Judges concerned should send a report to this court within three months from today in regard to the implementation of this order. Let a copy of this order be sent to all the District Judges concerned for communication to the respective courts. Let this matter be listed again before us in chambers, if we are not sitting together in the last working week of December, 1989. Before parting, we would like to mention that there is a very important aspect of the matted which cannot be ignored either by us or the authorities and the society at large. Are these juveniles, who are being released from custody or may be released in future, going to go back to the streets of towns and cities to be picked up by professional rouges and Fagins to be used in their nefarious design of committing crimes through these protected species ? Or, the State in the Walfare Department will see that they are resurrected from the pit of destruction and ultimate annihilation. The answer can come only from the Government and the private social welfare agencies. We can only suggest that these boys should be picked up by the Government and put into proper schools in boarding like Central Schools at the cost of the Government so that they may start living in normal environment and may receive education in proper surroundings.