LAW FOR ALL

The victim however in her examination in chief did not give any probable period or time when the intercourse had last taken place. In her cross- examination conducted on 06.10.2012, to a pointed query she answered, “We had intercourse finally in August, 2009”. At that juncture, the cross-examination of the victim was stopped and a plea of juvenility of the appellant was raised. It was submitted that going by the assertions of the victim, the appellant was definitely a juvenile on the alleged dates of occurrence. Criminal M.P. No.10872 of 2012 under Section 7A of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to “the Act”) was also filed praying that the age of the appellant be determined in terms of the provisions of the Act and the Rules framed thereunder. The complainant was also allowed to make her submissions. After hearing the parties, the Court posted the application for pronouncement of Orders on 04.12.2012. However, on 28.11.2012 an application under Section 216 of Cr.P.C. was filed by the prosecution for adding charge under Section 417 against the appellant. The request for addition of the charge was dismissed by the trial court which order was affirmed by the High Court by its Order dated 15.02.2013. The complainant challenged the order of the High Court by filing SLP(Crl.) No. 1899 of 2013 which was dismissed by this Court on 12.08.2014. The trial court thereafter postponed the issue of juvenility to be considered at the stage of final determination of the matter, which order was challenged by the appellant by filing petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. The challenge was accepted by the High Court and by Order dated 8.12.2014 it directed: “The learned III Additional Sessions Judge shall first decide the claim of juvenility raised by the petitioner herein and then to proceed with further in accordance with law. At any rate, appropriate decision on the claim of juvenility shall be made within a period of 30 days as provided in Rule 8B of the Tamil Nadu Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2001 from the date of receipt of the records from the trial court.” The matter was then heard by the trial court which after considering the relevant material on record declared the appellant to be juvenile in conflict with law under Section 7A of the Act. The trial court found the date of birth of the appellant to be 19.10.1991. Going by the assertions made by the victim that the sexual intercourse between them lastly occurred in the month of August, 2009, the trial court found that on the date of occurrence, the appellant was a juvenile. Concluding thus, the trial court directed: “29. Finally, this court allows the above Petition Crl.O.P.No.10872/2012 and decides that the offender was a Juvenile on the date of commission of offence. 30. As the offender on the date of occurrence of offence was a juvenile, the present case can be decided only by the Juvenile Board and this court orders transfer of the S.C.130/2011 to the Juvenile Board.”