KAMLENDRA SINGH @ PAPPU SINGHversusSTATE OF M.P.

                       (2013] 4 S.C.R. 236


A            KAMLENDRA SINGH @ PAPPU SINGH
                                v.
                          STATE OF M.P.
                (Criminal Appeal No. 451 of 2013)

                        MARCH 15, 2013
B
       [K.S. RADHAKRISHNAN AND DIPAK MISRA, JJ.]

       Juvenile Justice (Care an~ Protection of Children) Act,
  2000 - Conviction u/s. 307 /PC - Plea of juvenility before
C Supreme Court - Held: The accused was a juvenile on the
  date of the incident - Therefore, sentence awarded by courts
  below set aside - ~ records directed to be placed before
  the Juvenile Justice Board - Penal Code, 1860 - s.307.

0     Appellant-accused filed the present appeal
  challenging his conviction u/s. 307 IPC. He pleaded to be
  a juvenile on the date of the incident. In order to
  substantiate his plea, he produced High School Board
  Marksheet/certificate and a copy of admission register.
E The documents were verified by the Police as genuine.

        Allowing the appeal, the Court

      HELD: 1. As per the documents, viz. High School
  mark sheet/certificate and the school admission register,
F the appellant was a juvenile on the date of the incident.
  The principle laid down in the *Ashwini Kumar case
  squarely applies to the facts of the present case.
  Therefore, the sentence awarded by the trial court,
  confirmed by the High Court is set aside and the case
G records are directed to be placed before the concerned
  Juvenile Justice Board for awarding the appropriate
  sentence. [Para 7] [238-E-G]

        *Ashwani Kumar Saxena v. State of M.P. (2012) 9 SCC
    750: 201_2 (10) SCR 540 - relied on.
H                             236
KAMLENDRA SINGH @ PAPPU SINGH v. STATE OF 237
                  M.P.
                     Case Law Reference:                           A
    2012 (10) SCR 540          relied on             Para 7
    CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
No: 451 of 2013.
    From the Judgment & Order dated 17.07 .2012 of the High        8
Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur, M.P. in Criminal Appeal
No. 2443 of 1997. ·
    S.K. Dubey, Rajesh, D. Singh, Y. Tiwari for the Appellant.
    Vibha Datta Makhija for the Respondent.                        c
    The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
    K.S. RADHAKRISHNAN, J. 1. Leave granted.
     2. The appellant, along with two .others, were charge         0
sheeted for offences punishable under Sections 341, 294, 307
read with Section 34 IPC for conspiring to murder of one Atul
Mishra on 27 .8.1993 in Rewa at Allahabad Road, near Kalewa
Hotel. For the said purpose, the appellant accused gave a
country made pistol to the accused Raj Kumar Singh and
exhorted him to shoot Atul Mishra. Raj Kumar Singh fired at Atul   E
Mishra with the said country made pistol and he succumbed
to his injuries.
     3. The trial Court convicted him under Sections 341, 307
read with Section 34 IPC, but acquitted him of the charges         F
under Section 294 IPC. For the offence under Section 341 IPC,
he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one
month and for the offence under Section 307 IPC, he was
sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year along with a
fine of Rs.500/-. Both the sentences were directed to run          G
concurrently ..
    4. On appeal, the High Court set aside the conviction and
sentence for the offence punishable under Section 341 IPC, but
the conviction as well as the sentence awarded for offence
punishable under Section 307 IPC was maintained, against           H
     238       SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2013] 4 S.C.R.


 A which this appeal has been preferred.
        5. Shri S.K. Dubey, learned senior counsel appearing for
   the appellant, submitted that the appellant was a juvenile on the
   date of the incident i.e. 27.8.1993, though the claim of juvenility
 B was not raised either before the trial Court or the High Court.
   In order to establish the date of birth of the accused, the High
   School Board Mark-sheet /Certificate and a copy of the
   admission register were produced before this Court. Those
   documents would indicate that on the date of the incident, the
   date of birth of the accused is 25.2.1977. If that be so, the age
 C of the accused on the date of the incident was 16 years 6
   months and 2 days.
        6. When the matter came up for hearing on 9.11.2012, this
   Court directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to find out whether
   the appellant was a juvenile on the date of the incident and the
 0
   veracity of the documents mentioned above. The State
   Government got those documents verified through the
   Additional Superintendent of Police and reported that the
   documents are genuine .
.E     7. Going by those documents, evidently, the date of birth
  of the appellant is 25.2.1977. If that be so, the appellant was a
  juvenile on the date of the incident. We have extensively
  examined the provisions of the Juvenile of Justice (Care and
  Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in Ashwani Kumar Saxena
F v. State of M.P. (2012) 9 sec 750 and we are of the view that
  the principle laid down in the above judgment squarely applies
  to the facts of the present case. Under such circumstances, we
  are inclined to set aside the sentence awarded by the trial
  Court, confirmed by the High Court and the case records are
G directed to be placed before the concerned Juvenile Justice
  Board for awarding the appropriate sentence. Ordered
  accordingly.
         8. The appeal is allowed as above.
H K.K.T.                                           Appeal allowed.