ANTHONY ALIAS BAKTHAVATSALU Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by the accused Anthony alias Bakthavatsalu, a young boy aged about 15 years who has been convicted Under Section 376, IPC and directed to be detained in the Senior Certified School, Chingleput, for a period of three years, by the Court of Juveniles, Egmore, Madras. When this appeal was admitted, our learned brother Somasundaram, J. prepared a Memorandum pointing out that under Rule 7 of the rules framed Under Section 44 of the Madras Children Act, the procedure laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code (Act V of 1898) for the trial of summons cases has to be observed by the Juvenile Court in the tria1 of all cases, whether summons or warrant cases, but that this provision did not render it clear how precisely the Juvenile Court should proceed to try an offender for an offence exclusively triable by Court of Session, such as the present offence Under Section 376, IPC The learned Judge observed that the procedure to be followed by the Juvenile Court in such a case, was not clear, either from the provisions of the Madras Children Act, or from the rules framed thereunder.

(2.) THIS matter has been now placed before us, along with certain additional grounds upon the same aspect urged by Mr. K. Narayanaswamy for the appellant. Those grounds are, firstly, that the Juvenile Court was in error in exercising a jurisdiction at all in this case, because this is a contravention of Section 29 (B), Cr. PC; secondly, that the Juvenile Court ought not to have followed the procedure laid down for the trial of summons cases, with regard to an offence exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions; and, thirdly, that the mode of trial and the sentence itself under the Madras Children Act (Act IV of 1920), contravened Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) IN view of the importance of these grounds, we have heard the learned Advocate General and the learned Public Prosecutor upon these objections, as well as the learned Counsel for the appellant. We shall deal with this matter first, before proceeding into the merits of the conviction.