Lovish Vs State of Haryana

Child In Conflict With Law (CCL), an accused in case FIR N o. 36 dated 2 8.1.2023, registered against hi m for offences under Sections 2 01, 302 read with Section 34 of Indian Pen a l Code, at Police Station Bilas p ur, District Y amuna Nagar, has filed the pr e sent petition under Section 48 3 of BNSS fo r grant of bail.

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Relevant facts as emerging from the documents on recor d be noticed h e reinbelow:-

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Present criminal proceeding s were initiated against the CC L on the complaint dated 28.1.2023 made b y Anil Kumar son of Sadhu R a m, resident o f Bhamnoli, District Yamuna Nagar, alleging therein that on 28.1.202 3 at about 11.30 AM, a telep h onic information was receive d in Police St a tion Bilaspur that a dead bo dy is lying in reiver Som under the bridge n e ar village Bhamnauli. On gett i ng the said information, SI Nir m al Singh, with ASI Balbir Singh and Const a ble Pardeep Kumar, boarded o n a private v e hicle, reached the spot and no t iced that a dead body was lyin g in river So m having its back upwards mout h and legs whereof were dippe d in water an d its abdomen was lying across a banana tree. Photographs o f the body we r e clicked by SI Nirmal Singh from his mobile. Senior po l ice officials w ere intimated. Request was made to SHO of the said Po l ice Station a s well as Scene of Crime Team i n -charge to reach at the spot. W ith the help of villagers, the dead body was t a ken out of water. Sarpanch o f the village, n a mely, Arun Kumar and other r esidents identified the body as t hat of Kulde ep alias Kala, son of Jagpal, res i dent of village Bhamnauli, Yam u na Nagar. F rom the left pocket of the lowe r worn, a mobile phone make V ivo was reco v ered and was taken into poss e ssion vide recovery memo. W h ile Scene of Crime Team was busy in insp e cting the site, Anil Kumar, co u sin brother o f late Kuldeep, got his statement recorded, mentioning therein t hat his fathe r is younger brother named Ja g pal Singh, who had two child r en. The elde r son of Jagpal Singh, namely, S a njeev Kumar was married and has a son n a med XXXX, whereas the y o unger son, namely, Kuldeep is unmarrie d . Unfortunately, Sanjeev Ku m ar died 7-8 months ago. Kul d eep alias Kal a (since deceased) was living s e parately in a house in the vill a ge. Smt. Bab i ta wife of Sanjeev Kumar and h er son Lovish had taken the lan d of

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Kuldeep on lease. Both Babita and C CL wanted to usurp the lan d of Kuldeep. At about 10 PM on 27.1.2023, w hen Kuldeep (since deceased) w as present i n the house of Babita, he ha d verbal altercation with her a nd Lovish. S ince then the whereabouts of K u ldeep are not known. At abou t 12 in the af t ernoon on 28.1.2023, he (c) came to know about the dead b o dy having b e en found lying in the river Som. He visited the site and identifi e d it to be tha t of his cousin brother Kuldeep. Complainant further expressed his suspicion in writing that Babita and her son CCL, along with t h eir associate s , have murdered Kuldeep an d with an intention to destroy the evidence, have thrown his dead body i n the river. Request was mad e to initiate ap propriate proceedings again s t all those involved in grues o me murder. On the basis of said complaint, f ormal case vide FIR No. 36 d a ted 28.1.202 3 , was registered against him for offences under Sections 201, 3 02 read wit h Section 34 of Indian Penal Code, at Police Station Bilas p ur, District Y amuna Nagar.

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Investigations were set in t o motion, during which inq u est proceedi n gs were conducted. Post morte m examination of the deceased w as got cond u cted from Civil Hospital, Ja g adhri. After that, the body w as handed o v er to the relatives for performi n g last rites. It further emerges t hat co-accus e d Babita and Rishi Pal con fe ssed to their involvement in the commissi o n of offence and disclosed t hat they along with Lovish h ad murdere d Kuldeep by strangulating hi m . In pursuance to the disclo s ure statemen t made by co-accused Babita, c h appals of deceased were recov e red which w e re converted into a cloth parcel and taken in police possess i on. Son of B a bita, i.e., CCL, who at the tim e of incident was less than 18 y e ars of age, w as produced by Om Kumar and questioned, during which he

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demarcat e d the place where he along w ith his mother and their ser v ant Rishi Pal had murdered Kuldeep by stra n gulating him and also demarc a ted the plac e where the dead body has be e n thrown in the river along w ith motorcyc l e of the deceased. Thereafter, C CL was sent to place of safety (B al Sudhar G reh), District Karnal.

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It further emerges from th e documents on record that a f ter Juvenile J ustice Board, Yamuna Nagar conducted preliminary assess m ent under Se c tion 15 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child r en) Act (in s h ort “the JJ Act”). Matter was r eferred to the Court of Session for trial of C C L an ‘Adult’. This order was a ssailed by the CCL. Learned f irst Appellate Court remanded the matter to t he Juvenile Justice Board for f r esh assessme n t. However, vide order dated 1 1.12.2024, Juvenile Justice Board again re fe rred the matter to the children Court observing that CCL be t r ied as an ad u lt. Admittedly, the order vide w hich the CCL has been directe d to face trial as an Adult had attained finalit y .

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CCL filed an application for bail under Section 483 of B N SS before th e learned Presiding Officer, C h ildren Court-cum-Sessions Ju d ge, Yamuna N agar. The same came to be dis m issed vide order dated 20.01.2 0 25 (Annexu r e P-3). Aggrieved of which, th e present petition has been filed for grant of b ail.

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Learned counsel for the CC L submits that CCL has been fal s ely implicate d in the present case only on th e basis of statement of Anil Ku m ar, who leve l led absolutely baseless allegat i ons in the complaint. Therea f ter, complain a nt in collusion with local po l ice officials, only with a vie w to strengthe n the prosecution case, introd u ced a new story of one Kuldeep Singh so n of Karan Singh, having seen d eceased going to the house of the

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CCL and thereafter, CCL and co-accuse d Rishi Pal taking the decease d on the recov e red motorcycle, wherein he (d e ceased) was sitting in between coaccused R ishi Pal and CCL, who was driving the motorcycle. Lear n ed counsel contends that the falsity of the c ase set up by complainant part y is apparent from the fact that though alleg e dly Kuldeep Singh had seen C CL and Rishi Pal along with the deceased bu t for reasons best known, he did not narrate t h is crucial/vital fact immediat e ly to the police. The theor y of Kuldeep h aving ‘last seen’ deceased aliv e in the company of CCL and R i shi Pal was i n troduced as an after thought, o n e day after lodging of the FIR.

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It is further the submission o f learned counsel that complai n ant Anil Ku m ar who is also related to CCL a n d deceased, has concocted a f a lse story and levelled baseless allegations in the complaint only with an ulte r ior motive to grab the land of both Kuldeep ( since deceased) and father of C CL who had p assed away 7-8 months ago in t he tragic accident. Learned cou n sel vehemen t ly contends that since the CCL w as less than 18 years of age at the time of c o mmission of offence, his bail application has to be dealt wit h in accordan c e with parameters so provide d under Section 12 of the JJ A ct, which ar e quite distinct from those unde r Section 439 of Code of Crim i nal Procedur e . Learned counsel submits tha t there is nothing to suggest th a t if the CCL is extended concession of bai l , same is likely to bring him i nto associati o n with any known criminal and to expose him to moral, physic a l or psycholo g ical danger. All these crucial aspects were not taken note o f by learned Sessions Judge, Yamuna Nagar. Bail application of the CCL w as dismisse d in a routine mechanical man n er. No finding has been retur n ed that if C C L is declined bail, it may br i ng him into association with a ny

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known c r iminal, to expose him to mora l , physical or psychological da n ger and the j u venile is in conflict with law an d would defeat the ends of justi c e. In support of his contention, learned counsel has placed relia n ce upon tw o judgments of this Court rend e red in Neeraj v. State of Haryan, CRM-M-22942-2022 decided on 16.8.2023 and Sachin @ Suraj v. State of Haryana, CRA-S-149-2003 decided on 1 2 .7.2023. 5. Status report by way of af f idavit of Kanwaljeet Singh, HPS, Deputy S uperintendent of Police, HQ, Yamuna Nagar has been fi l ed, wherein, i n para 14 thereof, the role of C CL and motive for commissio n of offence have been highlighted. It has fu r ther been pointed out that Kuldeep Singh ha d seen CCL and co-accused R ishi Pal taking away deceased on motorcyc l e. In fact, complainant Anil Kumar, material witnesses K a ran Singh an d Kuldeep Singh, apart from var i ous other police officials inclu d ing the Inve s tigating Officer have already been examined. Learned S t ate counsel c ontends that on same set of ev i dence the mother of the CCL a nd co-accus e d Rishi Pal who were facin g trial separately have since been convicte d by learned Sessions Judge, Y a muna Nagar, vide judgment d a ted 22.5.202 5 and have been sentenced to u ndergo imprisonment for life v ide order dat e d 27.5.2025.

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Thus, evidence on record, p rima facie, indicates complicit y of CCL in t h e incident. It is further subm i ssion of learned State counsel t hat substanti a l witnesses have been examine d and completion of trial would not take mor e than 2-3 months. Thus, no ground to grant bail to CCL, in the factual scenario of case is made out. Pra y er for dismissal of the petition has been ma d e.

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Factual aspects leading to the registration of the FIR have already b e en noticed in para 2 of the ord e r. Admittedly, CCL was less t h an 18 years of age, at the time of commiss i on of offence. Therefore, he w as produced before the Principle Magistrat e , JJ Board. Order with regar d to CCL being tried as an ‘Adult’ h as admittedly attained fina l ity. Notwiths t anding, the overriding effect o f Section 12 of JJ Act, the provi s ion itself del i neates the grounds/circumstan c es under which the bail may be refused t o CCL. In the instant case, as per the allegations levelled by the prosecuti o n, the CCL in criminal conspiracy with his mother and t h eir servant h a d committed the murder of his p aternal uncle. It has also com e on record th a t father of CCL had died and , thus, there is no parental control over him . His mother along with their s ervant has since been convicte d of the offen c e under Section 302 of Indian P enal Code by the Court of lear n ed Sessions J udge, Yamuna Nagar, vide ju d gment dated 25.5.2025 and o r der of senten c e dated 27.5.2025.

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In these peculiar facts and c i rcumstances, it is clear that there is no one i n the family to take care and lo o k after the CCL, if he is exten d ed the concession of bail. In fact, from the f acts and circumstances brough t on record, i t is apparent that the CCL r e quires in-house correctional a nd rehabilita t ive services in order to wean hi m away from criminal activities. It is, thus, i n his own interest to provide him in-house correctional ser v ice during hi s lodging in Children Care Ho m e. The Children Court is dire c ted to prepar e a chart, care plan in terms o f the provisions of JJ Act and the Rules fra m ed thereunder so as to enable t h e incharge of the Home to pro v ide CCL wit h the correctional services. The Probation Officer shall monitor the

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same. T h e Children Court shall make all possible efforts to expedite the t rial of the C C L, within the time frame, so pro v ided under the JJ Act.

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In view of the above, findi n g no merit in the instant petit i on, same is h e reby dismissed. 9. Nothing stated above shall be construed as an expression on the

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merits of the case.

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(AARADHNA SAWHNEY) 04.11.20 2 5 JUDGE gbs

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Whether Speaking/reasoned : Yes/No Whether Reportable : Yes/No

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Lovish v. State of Haryana

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Lovish v. State of Haryana

Case brief

What is this about?

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What the court decided

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