Accused can’t dupe cause of justice by claiming to be Juvenile: Court
25 April 2013 7:19 AM IST
An accused cannot be allowed to 'dupe' the cause of justice in trial of heinous offences by claiming to be a juvenile and such pleas cannot be encouraged, a court has said, slamming attempts to use it as a 'ploy' to escape penal consequences.
The observation came while dismissing a plea by Ranjeet alias Bihari, who is an accused in a robbery case and had moved an application claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of alleged incident in May 2011.
The court rejected his plea holding that as per evidence on record, he is above 20 years old and he cannot claim to be a juvenile.
'In fact the plea of juvenility raised by the accused is merely to create a mist or smokescreen to hide his real age and he cannot be permitted to subvert and dupe the cause of justice,' additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said.
The judge also referred to a recent judgement passed by the Supreme Court on the similar issue saying that it is the duty of courts to 'scrutinise' the plea of juvenility with extreme caution.
The observation came while dismissing a plea by Ranjeet alias Bihari, who is an accused in a robbery case and had moved an application claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of alleged incident in May 2011.
The court rejected his plea holding that as per evidence on record, he is above 20 years old and he cannot claim to be a juvenile.
'In fact the plea of juvenility raised by the accused is merely to create a mist or smokescreen to hide his real age and he cannot be permitted to subvert and dupe the cause of justice,' additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said.
The judge also referred to a recent judgement passed by the Supreme Court on the similar issue saying that it is the duty of courts to 'scrutinise' the plea of juvenility with extreme caution.
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