After 17 years in jail, murderer released on juvenility plea

In a case of delayed or unavailability of proper legal assistance to an accused, a man who was convicted of murder and spent 17 years in jail was set free by the Supreme Court—because he was a juvenile at the time of the incident.

The lawyers appointed to the accused had continuously failed to put forth the argument that he was a juvenile, for whom the maximum punishment is a period of three years and that too at an observation home.

The accused, 12 years after exhausting all legal options, raised the issue of juvenility in 2021, after coming to know of the same when he discussed his options with his lawyer for premature release.

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The case pertains to a triple murder in Uttar Pradesh, following which the accused was convicted in 2006.

According to a report by the Times of India, his lawyers, Aarif Ali and Md Irshand Hanif found that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence and filed an application with the top court seeking his release.

Based on the plea, the top court directed the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to investigate the claim and on subsequent order by the JJB that he was 17 years, 7 months and 23 days at the time of the crime, the accused has been subsequently released.

It said that when the offence was committed, the provisions of the 2000 Act were in force, and as per that Act, only the JJB constituted under section 4 had the jurisdiction to try a juvenile in conflict with the law.

The court, disposing of the plea, said that it would be unjust to refer the case again to the JJB as he has served 17 years already.

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