Upholding the supremacy of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Allahabad High Court has ordered the release of a youth who had been detained for eight years in connection with a murder case. The court held that the young man, Pawan Kumar, was only 14 years old at the time of the crime and therefore should have been treated under the juvenile justice system, not as an adult offender.
A division bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Sandeep Jain was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Pawan Kumar, who had been incarcerated since 2017 in a murder case registered at Tharwai Police Station, Prayagraj. The plea sought his release, arguing that his continued detention was illegal since he had been declared a juvenile by the Juvenile Justice Board earlier this year.
The bench noted that Pawan Kumar’s school records confirmed his date of birth as December 13, 2002. This meant that on the date of the alleged offence, April 1, 2017, he was just 14 years and three months old, well below the legal threshold of 18 years.
Despite this, Kumar was tried as an adult and kept in Naini Central Jail even after the Board’s order dated May 15, 2025, acknowledging him as a juvenile.
The High Court strongly criticised the trial court’s mechanical approach to the juvenility claim. Instead of conducting an inquiry under Section 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act, it had wrongly referred the case to the Juvenile Justice Board, which lacked jurisdiction to determine age in such a situation.
The bench held that this procedural lapse violated the statutory protection guaranteed under the Juvenile Justice Act, resulting in prolonged and unlawful incarceration.
“Once the claim of juvenility is raised, continued detention in a regular jail becomes unlawful,” the court said, emphasising that the Juvenile Justice Act overrides all other laws concerning the detention, prosecution, or imprisonment of minors.
Reiterating the principles under Section 10 of the Act, the bench made it clear that a child in conflict with the law cannot, under any circumstance, be kept in a police lock-up or jail. Such individuals, until their age determination is complete, must be kept in a “place of safety” as defined by the Act.
The court observed, “A child in conflict with law or alleged to be in conflict with law cannot be lodged in jail till he attains 21 years of age, either during the inquiry regarding age determination or after being found to be a juvenile.”
The State had argued that the writ of habeas corpus was not maintainable since the detention stemmed from a judicial order. However, the High Court rejected this contention, clarifying that judicial custody too can be declared illegal if it arises from a jurisdictionally flawed or unlawful process.
Terming Kumar’s custody “illegal,” the High Court directed the Superintendent of Naini Central Jail to release him forthwith. It also instructed the Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj, to produce him before the trial court, which must now conduct a proper age determination inquiry in compliance with the Act.
If the inquiry confirms that he was a minor at the time of the offence, the case will be transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board for appropriate proceedings under Sections 14, 15, and 18 of the Act.
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