SC Stays Proceedings Against One Accused In Juvenile Justice Board livelaw.in

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a stay of the proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board against one of the accused in the 2018 rape and murder case of a minor girl in Kathua. The Bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Ajay Rastogi and V Ramasubramanian agreed to consider the plea moved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration which urged that the High Court had wrongly upheld the trial court’s finding of the main accused as a juvenile.

Appearing for the J&K administration, advocate PS Patwalia submitted that official records of the accused had not been appreciated in determining his date of birth. Patwalia also informed the court that proceedings before the Board had commenced despite the top court has already issued notice to the accused regarding the same. The court agreed with the contention that the Board could not continue with proceedings while the Supreme Court was seized of the matter, and accordingly directed a stay on the same.