FAROOQ KHAN Vs. STATE & ANR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition, which has been filed pro-bono-publico, the petitioner inter alia has challenged the validity of the provisions of Section 2(m), 2(n) and Section 21 of the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013, as ultra-vires and on the ground that the same is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The petitioner has also sought a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to reduce the age of juvenility to 16 years. Background facts leading to the filing of the writ petition need mention which are stated infra.

(2.) The petitioner has served the J & K Police Organization for 34 years and has minutely analyzed and study the ideology of criminals of tender age. After enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013, the petitioner noticed that some of the provisions of the aforesaid Act were aimed at diluting the basic spirit and architecture of the Constitution of India. According to the case, pleaded by the petitioner in the writ petition, the age of juvenility in the Act has been provided as 18 years.

(3.) In the writ petition, it is averred that the aforesaid legislation, which has been brought out by the State Government has put the society in a very precarious situation and it is not discernible that a person of the age of 16 years does not have the complete knowledge about the crime and he/she attains the knowledge of crime only after attaining the age of 18 years. The petitioner has also pleaded that no scientific study has been conducted by the respondents to know about the ability of the persons to distinguish the crime and its impact on the society at a particular age and the new legislation has been promulgated in a mechanical manner.