Chennai: Madras high court has set aside the life sentence imposed by a trial court on a 17-year-old juvenile in a murder case and ordered that the case be transferred to a juvenile court.A division bench of Justice Anita Sumanth and Justice Sunder Mohan passed the order on an appeal moved by the minor’s mother. The case relates to the 2022 murder of Vanniyar Sangam town president Kannan in Mayiladudurai.One among the accused, a 17-year-old boy, was tried along with adult co-accused in the Nagapattinam sessions court and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Although the Nagapattinam court had ordered that the juvenile be sent to a reformation school, he was lodged in Cuddalore central prison due to absence of a juvenile reformation facility.Challenging this, the boy’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition in the HC. She alleged that trying a juvenile in a sessions court was illegal and lodging him in a regular prison was also unlawful.Allowing the plea, the bench held that since the accused was below 18 years at the time of the offence, trying him along with the adult accused violated the Juvenile Justice Act. Failing to send him to a reformation school and instead imprisoning him in a regular prison was also illegal, the court added.The bench then set aside the conviction and life sentence, ordered that the case be transferred to the juvenile court in Mayiladudurai, and directed that the case be reheard and disposed of within six months.
