Gujarat High Court: Samir Dave, J., granted bail to the accused while prohibiting him from accessing the society in which the claimed victim lived. In doing so, the Bench granted a criminal revision application filed under Section 102 of the Juvenile Justice Act to overturn the Sessions Court and Juvenile Justice Board’s refusal to grant bail.
Section 12 states that if a kid is seized for allegedly committing an offence, he or she must be released on bail with or without surety or put under the supervision of a probation officer or in the care of any person.
The Applicant, who was 16 years and 8 months old, was accused of forcibly committing sodomy on a terrace with the complainant’s underage son, who was 13 years old. He also allegedly threatened the victim with death if the incident was revealed to anybody. As a result, FIR was filed under Sections 377, 323, 506(1) of the Penal Code, as well as Sections 3(A), 4 and 18 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012, and the Applicant was arrested in April 2022 and transferred to a Child Observation Home.
The Applicant claimed that he was a juvenile who had been wrongly charged with the current offence. Furthermore, he was living with his widowed mother and planned to begin academics the next academic year. He had no criminal history and hence advocated that the application be allowed.
The APP strenuously opposed to the Applicant’s claims and requested that the application be dismissed.
Given the arguments provided by the parties and the accused’s age, the High Court granted the motion and ordered his release on normal bail with restrictions.[Mohit Shankarbhaai Vaghela v. State of Gujarat, 2022 SCC OnLine Guj 737, decided on 27-05-2022]
Appearances:
For the Appellant: Mr MB Rana, Advocate
For the Respondent: Mr Mitesh Amin, and Ms Moxa Thakkar, Advocates