Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 9: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Hasnain Massodi and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal today sent a murder case back to the Trial Court, which had awarded death penalty to the accused with the direction to enquire into the question of juvenility of the appellant at the time of alleged commission of offence.
The accused Mohd Rashid alias Abdul Rashid, son of Ghulam Mohd of Magam was awarded death penalty by the trial court and an appeal was filed in the Division Bench against the verdict of trial court.
After hearing Senior Advocate P N Raina with Advocates YE Tak and JA Hamal appearing for the appellant whereas Senior AAG Seema Shekhar appearing for the State, DB sent the case back to trial court with the direction that the question of juvenility of the appellant at the time of alleged commission of offence is required to be inquired into and decided afresh.
“We direct the Court of 3rd Additional Sessions Judge Jammu to inquire into and determine age of the appellant as on 28.08.2005, exactly or as nearly as may be, in accordance with the statutory provisions within a period of two months”.
Division Bench observed that Section 8 of the Act of 2013 read with Rules 74 and 75 of the Rules of 2014 lays down the procedure for dealing with the question of determination of the age of the accused for the purpose of finding out whether he is juvenile or not.
“Care must be taken to ensure that any document or documents obtained in the process of inquiry pertains to the accused and to ensure that the prosecution should be given opportunity of filing objections to the claim of juvenility and court should take all such evidence as may be necessary”, the DB directed.
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