Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A court in Haryana’s Nuh district acquitted five minors and two men in 2023 violence case observing that the prosecution failed to prove the case against the accused beyond doubt.
In two judgments delivered on 27 January and 2 February, Priyanka Jain, principal magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board, has acquitted five minors allegedly accused of attacking the policemen and opening fire.
In separate case, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, which provided legal support to all of these accused, said that two adult men Mehboob and Mohammed Majlis, residents of Jaisinghpur, were also acquitted.
In her judgment acquitting minors on 27 January, Jain said, “There is shadow of doubt about the involvement of child in conflict with law in the present case. Accordingly, the child-in-conflict with law is hereby absolved from the notice of accusation served upon him. His bail bonds and surety bonds stands discharged.”
The magistrate directed the Probation officer to prepare “Individual Care Plan” of the children in Form 7 as per rules. Record qua child in conflict with law be dealt with as per section 24(2) of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of child) Act, 2015 and Rule 14 of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of child) Rules, 2016.
The judgment is related to the son of Jakir Hussain, who is resident of Paldi village in Nuh district. The minor was booked under the sections 148,149, 186, 332, 353, 435, 295A, 307, 323, 427, 120-B,395 and 412 IPC & section 25-54-59 Arms Act & 3 PDPP Act. He was allegedly accused of pelting stones, attacking the policemen, torching motorcycle and opening fire at the police.
However, the magistrate observed that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the case as it did not present any CCTV footage showing the involvement of the accused, call details record, call location. He was implicated only on the basis of disclosure statement made by another accused.
“Another serious dent in the prosecution case is caused by the fact that material witnesses namely Salman, Deepak Kumar, Kulwant Singh, Vinod, Harsh Singh, Rakesh, Anil Mohniya, during their cross-examination stated that they could not identify the child-in-conflict-with law,” noted the judgment.
Another judgment is related to the sons of Abdul Rahman and Abudl Gaffar, who are resident of Barma Hall area in Nuh district. They have been booked under under Sections 148,149,186,332,353,307,295A, 323, 427,333 IPC and section 25 Arms Act, and section 3 The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. They have been accused of pelting stones on the public, the police and opening fire at the policemen causing injury to Inspector Anil Kumar and other policemen.
However, the Magistrate Jain made similar observation in this case too noting that there is shadow of doubt about the involvement of children in conflict with law in the present case. Accordingly, the children-in-conflict with law are hereby absolved from the notice of accusation served upon them. Their bail bonds and surety bonds stands discharged.
She again directed the Probation Officer to prepare the Individual Care Plan for these minors.
In this case too, the judgment noted that there is no cctv footage showing the involvement of the minors, nor is there any call details recording, call location with regard to their involvement. The accused were implicated on the basis of the disclosure statement made by the other accused in the case.
The magistrate also observed that the witnesses who were examined did not identify these minors.
On 31 July last year, violence broke out after Hindutva groups took out ‘Jal Abhishek Yatra’, leading to the death of two home guards and injuries to at least 15 others, including several police personnel.
