Court frees youth from Tihar, says he was a minor when jailed 7 years ago

Ashutosh Bhardwaj, Sun, Aug 07, 2011

Booked for murder, he cleared Class X, XII, BA while in jail; ossification test establishes age

After spending seven years in jail during which he cleared Class X, XII and BA-I, a murder accused walked free on Saturday after the Juvenile Justice Board declared closure of the case against him as he has already undergone the maximum punishment of three years in custody.

A Delhi court ruled earlier this week that according to the ossification test (conducted on bones to determine age) he was a minor when the offence was committed. However, the mandatory ossification test in such contentious cases, was conducted seven years after the boy was arrested.

He wishes to forget the past and focus on his life ahead— which includes a job with the Vedanta group that awaits him.

“I am so happy. I was selected by the Vedanta Group during a campus placement in Tihar in February. I am now waiting for the joining letter, which was to be given after I am released,” the youth, now 22-year-old, told The Sunday Express.

Overruling the 2005 order of the Juvenile Justice Board that held him to be a major on the date of the incident, March 14 2004, an Additional Sessions Judge declared him to be a juvenile and directed to send the case again to the Board, which set him free on Saturday.

During his jail years, besides securing first division in Class X, he scored 73 per cent marks in Bhartiya Sanskriti Evam Rashtra Gaurav and 70 per cent in Mathematics in BA-I (private) from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, last year. The result of BA-II is expected this month.

A native of UP, he was among the seven persons accused of hiring a Qualis in March 2004 and murdering its driver. The vehicle was hired for Delhi-Bijnore trip and Dharmaveer was found murdered near Bijnore. According to the prosecution, the vehicle was hired to ensure the release of another accused from police custody. Among the seven accused, two are in Tihar, two out on bail, one killed and another released after being declared a juvenile.

Soon after the arrest in 2004, when he was produced before the sessions court, the judge, on the basis of birth certificate and other documents submitted by the defence, referred his case to the Juvenile Board. But. the police claimed the documents were fake and the Board declared him to be a major and the case was sent back to the sessions court in 2005.

“Soon after, he filed an appeal with Tihar authorities seeking that he be declared as a juvenile,” said defence lawyer Tanveer Ahmed Mir.

The appeal remained buried in court files even as he obtained interim bail to appear in various academic exams, whose certificates continued to show his date of birth as September 9, 1988, suggesting he was a minor when the offence was committed.

“The appeal was filed in 2005 and ought to have been disposed within 30 days under the Juvenile Justice Act but it remained pending for long. The Board gave erroneous judgment based on documents presented by the prosecution without sending the accused for the mandatory ossification test,” Mir argued before the court.

On March 22 this year, the ASJ allowed his appeal and ordered the ossification test. The test conducted by the doctors of Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital found his present age to be between 22-25 years. While the prosecution stressed on the upper limit, the judge relied on HC judgments and provisions of Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Rules, 2007 and emphasised on the lower limit. “The age of the accused was approximately 14 years on the date of the incident,” the ASJ said.

Subsequently he was shifted from Tihar to Juvenile home on August 1 and was produced before the Juvenile Board on Saturday.

“After seven long years, he will breathe free air,” said his brother, who with his mother came from UP to receive him.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/court-frees-youth-from-tihar-says-he-was-a-minor-when-jailed-7-years-ago/828219/0