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Mahendra Singh v. State of Rajasthan

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 1336 of 2007)Decided 9 Dec 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 1336 of 2007
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

The appellants were convicted of murder, read with unlawful assembly, for a killing in a 1997 family dispute in Rajasthan. The High Court upheld the convictions of both men, although it acquitted two co-accused. Mahendra Singh argued that he was 17 at the time of the offence and had already served more than ten years in jail. Ram Singh argued that the sole eyewitness never named him as taking part in the attack.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed Ram Singh's appeal and set aside his conviction, because the sole eyewitness's statements never assigned him any role. For Mahendra Singh, the Court followed Hari Ram v. State of Rajasthan (2009) and accepted that Section 20 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 applies to pending cases, so that juvenility is determined as on the date of the offence even after conviction. His conviction was maintained, but his sentence was set aside, and the appeal was disposed of accordingly.

Lesson Learnt

A person who was under 18 when an offence was committed may be able to claim juvenile justice protection even years later, if the case was still pending when the 2000 Act came into force. A conviction based on a single eyewitness must rest on what that witness actually says, and if the witness never names the accused, the conviction cannot stand.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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