MYSORE: Juvenile Justice Board member and director of People’s Legal Forum P P Baburaj has appealed to the Apex Court to intervene and use its suo motu powers to quash the order of the Fast Track Court of Chamarajanagar and release Anburaj who is in the jail since 2001.
He said that the Apex Court should compensate Anubraj for his illegal detention.
In a letter, he said that there are many juveniles who have spent years in jails due to the irresponsible approach of the police and the magistrates concerned.
He said the decision of the Apex Court would be a benchmark in the delivery of justice for juveniles. According to Baburaj, Anburaj was a juvenile at the time of his arrest. His school transfer certificate proves that he was born on May 6, 1980 and the offence for which he was arrested took place on July 12, 1997.
Observing that juveniles cannot be tried by the regular court as per the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act, he said that it was the responsibility of the investigation officer of the case and the magistrate concerned to check the age of the accused. The procedure was ignored and Anubraj was sentenced to life. He has spent 13 years in the Mysore Central Prison.
Anburaj, a 6th standard dropout, was sentenced for 16 years in 2001.
Forest brigand Veerappan is the first accused, Sethukuli Govinda, the second and Meesekara Madaiah the third. Anburaj is the sixth accused in the case. His juvenility was never raised in the court.
According to Anburaj, he and his brothers were picked up by Veerappan when they were grazing sheep in the forest in Andiyur. Veerappan kept the brothers for about six months, moving from one forest to another. When Anburaj was released, he was in Bandipur forest.
As they started protesting, they were handed over to Gopal, editor of Nakkeeran, for surrendering him to the STF. Since then, Anbu has been in the jail.