XXXXXXX Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate (Crl. Side) for the first respondent.

(2.) The petitioner was implicated as one of the accused in the impugned FIR. The FIR was registered for the offences under Ss. 147, 148, 294(b), 427 and 506(ii) of IPC and Sec. 4 of Tamilnadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002. The registration of the FIR was on 27/6/2015. Admittedly, the petitioner was a juvenile at the relevant point of time. The learned counsel for the petitioner draws my attention to Sec. 14 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The said provision reads as follows:-

(3.) The said provision states that any proceeding against a juvenile in conflict with law will have to be concluded within a period of four months. The said period can be extended by further period up to two months. In any event, the proceeding cannot remain pending beyond six months. The learned counsel for the petitioner draws my attention to Sec. 14(4) of the Juvenile Justice Act, which states that if at the end of the period, the proceedings are still not concluded, they shall be terminated. The learned counsel for the petitioner relies on a catena of decisions in support of his contention that this provision is mandatory. In this case, the proceedings are hanging fire for almost seven years. Therefore, on this sole ground, the proceedings against the petitioner stand terminated. This criminal original petition is allowed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed.