The Bench of Allahabad High Court has granted Bail to a person who at the time of an incident was a juvenile and the main accused of the heinous offence. The bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Pachori granted bail to a person under section 12 of the JJ Act (Juvenile Justice Act,2015).

Earlier, the Bail application of the accused was rejected by the JJ Board. JJ board rejected the application on the ground that the gravity of the offence and the reason that there appears a reasonable ground for believing that the guardian of the juvenile has no effective control over the accused person, 

The board further claimed that there is a possibility of re-occurrence of the offence after his release.

The father of a minor filed Criminal Revision in the High Court. He submitted that the accused is falsely implicated and the case is based on circumstantial evidence.

On the Contrary, the Counsel member of the State submitted that the Juvenile has committed a Heinous Crime and considering the gravity of the offence, the criminal revision should be rejected.

The High Court observed that It is a settled position of law that the use of the word 'shall' in sub-section (1) of Section 12 of "JJ Act, 2015" is of great significance and ordinarily, the JJB is under obligation to release the juvenile on bail.

Further, the Court explained that "from a bare reading of the provisions of Section 12 of "The JJ Act", it appears that the intention of the legislature is to grant bail to the juvenile irrespective of the nature or gravity of the offence alleged to have been committed by him and bail can be declined only in such cases where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the release is likely to bring the juvenile into the association of any known criminal or expose him to moral, physical, or psychological danger, or that his release would defeat the ends of justice. The gravity of the offence is not a relevant consideration for declining the bail to the juvenile." , the Court said.