NIKHIL KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India is for a direction to release the Petitioner a convict and serving a sentence of life imprisonment for an offence under Section 302 on account of committing the murder of one Anil Kumar Gupta on 19th of October 1988 at Treasury Chowk in Gopalganj Town within the district of Gopalganj. The only grounds for release is that on the date of the commission of the offence, the Petitioner was a juvenile for being aged about 14 years, as per the date of his birth i.e. 05.03.1974 . The further prayer of the Petitioner is for issuance of appropriate writ quashing the order dated 06.10.2010, passed by the Justice Juvenile Board , Gopalganj in JJB Cr. Misc. 1 of 2010 as contained in Annexure- 6, whereby the claim for re-determination of his age in order to claim the benefit of juvenility was rejected.

(2.) The relevant brief facts are given below:

(3.) The Petitioner against his conviction preferred a Criminal Appeal No. 198 of 2002 (Division Bench) as contained in Annexure- 4. In the said appeal besides assailing the conviction on other grounds, Petitioner specifically raised the plea of juvenility on the ground that the age of the Petitioner as per the certificate Bihar School Examination Board, Patna (Exb. -A) was 5th of March 1974 and as such, Petitioner was juvenile on the date of occurrence. During the hearing of the appeal, the plea of juvenility was seriously raised and contested by the State as would be appearing from paragraphs 7 and 8 of the judgment of the aforesaid criminal appeal. The Appellate Court considered the plea of juvenility as claimed by the Petitioner and disposed of the issue of juvenility against the Petitioner vide paragraph - 9 of the judgment.