E-Paper
Man declared juvenile 36 years after murder
The Supreme Court has ordered the release of a 53-year-old man accused of murder on the grounds that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence 36 years ago.
The Supreme Court has ordered the release of a 53-year-old man accused of murder on the grounds that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence 36 years ago.
A bench, headed by justice TS Thakur, interpreted a provision of the juvenile justice law of 2000 and held that Abdul Razzaq of Faizabad was less than 18 years old at the time of the incident. It referred to the Juvenile Justice Board, Agra order of July 2, 2013 that declared Razzaq to be a juvenile in 1979.
This is Razzaq’s second round of litigation before the SC. He had previously lost as he failed to raised the juvenility plea and the top court had found him guilty of the murder. Razzak was convicted under Section 302 and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment by a trial court in Agra on September 29, 1980. His conviction and sentence was affirmed by the Allahabad HC in 2000. The SC later dismissed Razzaq’s review petition on July 20, 2010.
