BENGALURU: Stating that sentencing a juvenile to life imprisonment by wrongly treating him as an adult by a sessions court is illegal, the Karnataka High Court directed the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to award Rs 50,000 compensation to him as per Rule 6 of the Karnataka State Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2025. The accused spent 13 years in prison as against serving three years at a special home, the high court said.
The question of referring the case to JJB for awarding a sentence does not arise as he has undergone a sentence of graver measure, which has to be treated as subsumed under any sentence that could have been passed under Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000.
A division bench of Justices S Sunil Dutt Yadav and Ramachandra D Huddar passed the order, while disposing of an appeal filed by Channappa, who was a juvenile at the time of the murder of Bheemaraya in Yadgir district in 2011.
Bheemaraya had married Channappa’s sister after eloping with her. Channappa and his father Saibanna murdered Bheemaraya. Saibanna was abated as he passed away during the trial. Channappa underwent the sentence in judicial custody from April 11, 2011, till he was released on bail on July 31, 2024. In his appeal in 2019, he challenged his sentencing on December 11, 2018, passed by the sessions court in Yadgir.
While the appeal was pending, Channappa filed the interlocutory application under Section 7A of the Act of 2000, read with Section 482 of CrPC, seeking a declaration that he was a minor aged about 16 as on the date of the commission of the offence and to direct the police to release him.
An inquiry proved that he was a juvenile at the time of murder. The court held that the sentence passed by the sessions court would be illegal contrary to limitations imposed in awarding the punishment under Section 15 of the Act of 2000.
The high court said the accused was tried as an adult and received a harsh sentence. His juvenility should have been identified when he was contacted the first time, the court said.