"We had noted that even where a juvenile is found to have committed an offence, he shall not suffer any disqualification and even the records are to be obliterated after a specified period of time. This conclusion was arrived at on the basis of the provisions of Section 19 of the said Act," a bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed said.
The bench also comprising Justice V K Jain upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) decision in favour of Vijay Kumar Malik, whose candidature was cancelled on the ground that he was involved in a murder case in Sonepat in Haryana in 2005, considering the fact that Malik was acquitted by the Juvenile Justices Board in 2006.
The bench said the department ignored the Supreme Court ruling in which it was held that the "intention of the legislature is absolutely clear in that so far as juveniles are concerned, their criminal record is not to stand in their way in their future lives".
The bench further said that in the present case, "even that aspect need not to be considered because the respondent (Malik) was not even found to have committed any offence by the Juvenile Justice Board" and he was acquitted by the same.
"Therefore, there was all the more reason for the petitioner (police commissioner) not to have taken into account the contents of the said FIR." (MORE)