Braj Kishore Pandey & Anr. vs The State & Ors. - (High Court of Delhi) (12 Oct 2021)

Juvenile Justice Board has exclusive jurisdiction relating to children in conflict in law; not for offences against children

MANU/DE/2722/2021

Criminal

Present petition is filed to quash the FIR registered against the Petitioners and thereby quashing every other proceeding undertaken in the said FIR. It is the case of the Petitioners as per the statutory provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015 [JJ Act], no such power of constituting any Committee lies with the respondents and they are not authorized to run parallel proceedings, when Juvenile Justice Board is in place to look into the offences of any nature whatsoever while dealing with the issues or complaints of children in conflict with law, even otherwise the FIR is primarily based on the reports of the Committee whose constitution is not even defined in the entire Act.

The main argument of the learned counsel for the Petitioners is that as per Section 8(1) of the JJ Act, it is the only JJB, who can deal with the children who are in conflict with law and it has the only power to lodge the complaint /FIR per Section 8(3)(k) of the JJ Act, and no one else has the power to lodge such complaint.

In Lalitha Kumari v. State of UP, any receipt of an information regarding cognizable offence must be registered as an FIR. Admittedly letter/complaint, disclose cognizable offence(s) and thus, the FIR was registered.

This complaint was pursuant to an inquiry conducted by a 3- member vigilance committee conducting an inquiry into the allegations against the Petitioners which concluded the Petitioners, on several instances used filthy, offensive, taunting and humiliating language with the children resident in Observation Home for Boys as well as were physically abusive. Pursuant to the information received vide letter, the present FIR has been registered and investigation is ongoing.

Section 8(1) of the Act gives a power to the Board to deal with all proceedings under the Act relating to children in conflict. The only limitation for jurisdiction is crimes committed by children, which are subjected to the jurisdiction of Juvenile Justice Board. Pursuant to Section 8(1) of the JJ Act, the Juvenile Justice Board has exclusive jurisdiction relating to children in conflict in law; not for offences against children. Section 8(3) of the JJ Act is inclusive which no doubt give powers to the Board besides other power to order for registration of FIR for offences committed against any child in conflict but that does not debar others to lodge such FIR.

Rule 54 of JJ Rules, 2016 can be read in this context. The above rule prescribes a procedure for registration of FIR in cases where a complaint discloses cognizable offence against children. This Rule is in line with Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). Rule 54 of Rules allows any department or organization to register a complaint with the police of offences against children. There is no bar to the police to file a chargesheet in offences against children, and there is no specific provision for a department to file a complaint before the court of law. The procedure for complaint and otherwise, prescribed in the rules does not exclude the police in registering a case and carrying out investigation. Petition dismissed.

Tags : FIR QUASHING GRANT