Assault case: Karnataka High Court orders fresh probe as accused is juvenile

Bengaluru: The High Court has ordered a fresh investigation by the Juvenile Police Unit against the petitioner, who was 17 years and 10 months old at the time of the alleged crime.

The court passed this order while partly allowing the petition challenging the FIR and chargesheet filed by Bilikere police in Hunsur taluk in Mysuru district.

The police had registered the FIR on March 18, 2023, in connection with an incident on March 17, 2023. It was alleged that the petitioner, along with others, assaulted the complainant over civil works at a disputed land.

The petitioner submitted that on the relevant date of the incident, he was below 18 years of age, his date of birth being April 10, 2005.

It was further contended that the charge sheet indicates that the only offence against the petitioner is that he had caused injury by hitting the complainant on his head using a stone. Of the offences alleged against the petitioner, what can at best be pressed is an offence under IPC section 324, which is not a heinous crime, the petitioner said. 

The additional public prosecutor submitted that, where it is a petty offence or a heinous offence if it is committed with adults, they are inseparable and, therefore, the rules themselves permit a child to be tried by a regular court.

Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that Rule 8 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules mandates that no FIR shall be registered against a juvenile except where the offence alleged is heinous, whether it is committed by a child solitarily or jointly with adults.

“Section 324 of the IPC, which is alleged against the petitioner, is punishable up to three years or with a fine or both. If it is punishable up to three years, it relates to a petty offence as defined under the Act, and if it is a petty offence, the police would not get jurisdiction to register the crime and investigate the matter of a juvenile. A juvenile would be an accused below the age of 18 years committing a petty offence. The crime ought to have been registered before the juvenile police or the Child Welfare Police Officer in the Special Juvenile Police Unit,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The court directed the transfer of the entire matter to the Juvenile Police Unit for a fresh investigation and said the Juvenile Police Unit shall adhere to the procedure under the Juvenile Act and the Rules.