Bombay High Court orders immediate release of juvenile rape convict who spent 19 years in jail

The Bombay High Court recently ordered immediate release of a rape convict who had spent around 19 years in jail before it was discovered that he had been a juvenile when the offence was committed [Pintu Chauhan v. State of Maharashtra]..Pertinently, the maximum period of detention that could be undergone by a juvenile person (aged between 16 and 18 years) under the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 is three years, as clarified by the Supreme Court in Makkella Nagaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2023)..In the case before the High Court, a bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak checked the birth date of the convict, Pintu Chauhan, and verified that he had indeed been a juvenile when the offence was committed.Therefore, the Court ordered his immediate release from prison. “It is an admitted fact that, the Applicant has already undergone more than three years of actual imprisonment. In view thereof, the Applicant is entitled to be released from jail forthwith,” the Court held in its February 21 order..Chauhan was booked under Section 376 (f) (rape by a relative, guardian, teacher, person in a position of trust or authority) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).A sessions court at Thane found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment on December 9, 2005. Since then, Chauhan had been lodged at the Nashik Central Prison in Maharashtra. He did not challenge the conviction order.Chauhan, however, made an application for premature release from prison in terms of the State government's remission policy after completing 14 years of imprisonment.This remission plea was rejected by the State government on November 7, 2019.He challenged this government order before the High Court in 2021, claiming that it had been mechanically passed. In 2022, he filed an interim application seeking release on the ground that he was a juvenile when he committed the offence.On July 14, 2022, the High Court directed the prosecution to verify documents such as Chauhan's school leaving certificate, which he relied on to prove that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.After verifying these documents, the Court noted that Chauhan was born in 1988 and was about 16 years of age when he committed the offence in 2005. Hence the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was squarely applicable to him, the Court said.In view of this, the Court ordered his immediate release from prison..[Read order]