Lucknow, Nov 26th : , After 40 years of the incident the Lucknow bench at Allahabad High Court declared the 56-year-old suspect as a juvenile and sentenced him to the same punishment he received in a case involving culpable murder not amounting to death. The plea of juvenility was decided by the HC on the direction from the apex court.
A bench consisting Justice Ramesh Sinha, Justice Vivek Varma passed the order.
In October 2017, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Ambedkar Nagar had declared Sangram a juvenile.
However, the HC didn’t consider this fact when it decided the appeal on October 11, 2018.
In fact, the HC had partially allowed the appeal of Ram Kumar and Sangram.
It upheld their convictions, but modified the sentence under Section 304 (1) IPC, sentencing them to 10 years in prison.
Sangram challenged the Supreme Court verdict, arguing that the Supreme Court committed grave error in deciding his appeal against him.The Supreme Court also failed to consider his plea of Juvenility, which can be raised at any stage in criminal proceedings.
On August 27, 2021 the Supreme Court remitted the matter to the high courts for the decision of the plea of juvenility.
After hearing the plea, Faizabad, an additional sessions judge, found Ram Kumar, and Sangram guilty of murder in Ibrahimpur police circles, Faizabad and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
They preferred to appeal against the 1981 conviction and sentence at the high court.
During pendency for the appeal on a direction from the high court, on October 11, 2017, the JJB presented its report to it.It stated that Sangram was a juvenile and was approximately 15 years old when the crime was committed.
After the SC’s remand order was passed, the high court bench stated that the JJB formed an opinion on the Transfer Certificate of Sangram for Class 5.It was supported by the headmaster of the school who placed relevant documents.The complainant has not filed an appeal and the state has not opposed the JJB’s findings.
“Thus, after a thorough inquiry, we are of opinion that the October 11, 2017 report passed by JJB is liable to accept and we, accordingly, agree with the same,” stated the bench.
amita/dpb #agrees #juvenile
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