what do heinous offence mean under the act ?
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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose on Thursday held that offences which carried the maximum of more than seven years imprisonment, but with no minimum sentence of fewer than seven years should be treated as ‘serious’ and not as ‘heinous’ offences.
In the instant case, juvenile ‘X’ was accused of committing an offence punishable under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, which is punishable with a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life up to ten years and fine in the first part, and imprisonment up to ten years or fine, or both in the second part. No minimum sentence is prescribed under this provision.
The first part of Section 304 deals with punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.
The second part of Section 304 seeks to impose imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine, or with both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause it, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.
Section 2(33) defines “heinous offences” as those for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more. Section 2(35) defines “juvenile” as a child below the age of 18 years.
Section 2(45) defines “petty offences” as those for which maximum punishment under the IPC or any other law in force is imprisonment up to three years. Section 2(54) defines “serious offences” as those for which punishment under the IPC, or any other law in force, is imprisonment between three to seven years.Section 15 of the 2015 Act provides that if the child offender has committed a heinous offence, the Juvenile Justice Board shall conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to the mental and physical capacity of the child to commit such offence, the ability of the child to understand the consequence of the offence and the circumstances in which it was allegedly committed.
Section 19 of the Act empowers the Children’s Court to reassess the preliminary assessment of the Board. Under sub-section (2) of Section 19, a child must be kept in a place of safety and cannot be sent to jail till the child attains the age of 21 years, even if such a child has to be tried as an adult.
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Henious offence in a laymans language can be termed as something that is extremely evil or horrible any act against the society . The Supreme Court had previously held that anybody convicted for a serious crime cannot strike a settlement with the victim as their crime is adhered as something against the society . After the recent amendment in the juvenile law it was held that the offences can be categorized into three sections i.e petty offences with a jail term of maximum three years , serious offences with a maximum jail term of three years and heinous offences like rape , murder etc with a minimum jail term of 7 years and above . In a situation where the teenager was 16 years of age and drove a vehicle that belonged to his father resulting in a hit and run case of a 32year old man . Even though the offence was a heinous offence under IPC with seven years and above imprisonment the Court decided to try the juvenile as per juvenile laws but under the serious offence category . The Supreme Court, in one of its recent judgement, has observed that in effect under Section 2(33) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, an offence prescribing a max. sentence of more than 07 years imprisonment but not providing any min sentence, or providing a min sentence of less than 07 years, cannot be considered to be a ‘heinous offence’. Section 2(33) defines “heinous offences” as those for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more. Section 2(35) defines “juvenile” as a child below the age of 18 years. Section 2(45) defines “petty offences” as those for which maximum punishment under the IPC or any other law in force is imprisonment up to three years. Section 2(54) defines “serious offences” as those for which punishment under the IPC, or any other law in force, is imprisonment between three to seven years.
A crime that does not provide a minimum sentence of 7 years cannot be treated as a heinous crime. However, in view of the aforementioned, the law does not address the fourth category of crimes, that is, crimes in which the maximum penalty is more than 7 years in prison but does not require a minimum or minimum penalty of less than 7 years. Be treated as “serious crimes” within the meaning of the law and treated accordingly until Parliament approves the matter. In the case of heinous crimes, a child under the age of 16 must follow the prescribed procedure for serious crimes; but if the child is over 16 years of age, an evaluation must be carried out within the meaning of Section 15, which establishes that the Committee must carry out a preliminary evaluation of his mental and physical capacity to commit such a crime, as well as his capacity to do facing the consequences of the crime and the circumstances in which you allegedly committed the crime, and can order a court hearing as an adult in accordance with the provisions of Section 18 (3): experienced psychologists or psychosocial workers or other experts. The provision establishes that the preliminary evaluation is not a process, but rather assesses the ability of said child to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged crime. Once it has been determined that the matter should be dealt with by the board, the procedure for the subpoena according to the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (2 of 1974) is followed. Section 2 (35) defines “juvenile” as a child under the age of 18. Section 2 (45) defines “petty offences” as those for which the maximum penalty under the IPC or other applicable law is a prison term of up to three years. Section 2 (54) defines “serious offences” as those for which a prison term of three to seven years is punishable under the IPC or other applicable law.
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