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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.  451  OF 2013 [Arising out of SLP (Criminal) No. 7708 of 2012]

Kamlendra Singh @ Pappu Singh .. Appellant

Versus

State of M.P. .. Respondent

J U D G M E N T

K. S. Radhakrishnan, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant, along with two others, were charge sheeted  

for offences punishable under Sections 341, 294, 307 read with  

Section 34 IPC for conspiring to murder of one Atul Mishra on  

27.8.1993 in Rewa at Allahabad Road, near Kalewa Hotel.  For  

the said purpose, the appellant accused gave a country made  

pistol  to  the  accused Raj  Kumar  Singh and exhorted  him to  

shoot Atul Mishra.  Raj Kumar Singh fired at Atul Mishra with the  

said country made pistol and he succumbed to his injuries.  

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 3. The trial Court convicted him under Sections 341, 307 read  

with Section 34 IPC,  but  acquitted him of the charges under  

Section 294 IPC.   For the offence under Section 341 IPC, he was  

sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month and  

for  the offence under  Section 307 IPC,  he was sentenced to  

rigorous  imprisonment  for  one  year  along  with  a  fine  of  

Rs.500/-.  Both the sentences were directed to run concurrently.  

4. On appeal,  the High Court  set  aside the conviction and  

sentence for the offence punishable under Section 341 IPC, but  

the  conviction  as  well  as  the  sentence  awarded  for  offence  

punishable  under  Section  307  IPC  was  maintained,  against  

which this appeal has been preferred.   

5. Shri S.K. Dubey, learned senior counsel appearing for the  

appellant, submitted that the appellant was a juvenile on the  

date of the incident i.e. 27.8.1993, though the claim of juvenility  

was not raised either before the trial Court or the High Court.  

In order to establish the date of birth of the accused, the High  

School  Board  Mark-sheet  /Certificate  and  a  copy  of  the  

admission  register  were  produced  before  this  Court.   Those  

documents would indicate that on the date of the incident, the

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date of birth of the accused is 25.2.1977.  If that be so, the age  

of  the  accused  on  the  date  of  the  incident  was 16  years  6  

months and 2 days.   

6. When the matter came up for hearing on 9.11.2012, this  

Court directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to find out whether  

the appellant was a juvenile on the date of the incident and the  

veracity  of  the  documents  mentioned  above.   The  State  

Government  got  those  documents  verified  through  the  

Additional  Superintendent  of  Police  and  reported  that  the  

documents are genuine.  

7. Going by those documents, evidently, the date of birth of  

the appellant is 25.2.1977.  If that be so, the appellant was a  

juvenile  on  the  date  of  the  incident.   We  have  extensively  

examined the  provisions of  the  Juvenile  of  Justice  (Care  and  

Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in  Ashwani Kumar Saxena  

v. State of M.P. (2012) 9 SCC 750 and we are of the view that  

the principle laid down in the above judgment squarely applies  

to the facts of the present case.  Under such circumstances, we  

are  inclined  to  set  aside  the  sentence  awarded  by  the  trial  

Court, confirmed by the High Court and the case records are

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directed  to  be  placed  before  the  concerned  Juvenile  Justice  

Board  for  awarding  the  appropriate  sentence.   Ordered  

accordingly.

8. The appeal is allowed as above.    

…………………………………J. (K. S. RADHAKRISHNAN)

…………………………………J. (DIPAK MISRA)

New Delhi, March 15, 2013