Kerala High Court Upholds JJB Order on Escorted Movement of CCL in Alappuzha Murder Case

The Kerala High Court has dismissed a petition filed by three children in conflict with the law (CCL) challenging a Juvenile Justice Board, Alappuzha, order that permitted the police to take them out of the observation home for evidence recovery in a murder case.

Justice G. Girish held that the 13 conditions imposed by the board while allowing the escorted movement were sufficient to protect the children from social stigma. The petitioners had contended that being taken into public view would breach their anonymity.

The court acknowledged that the CCL could not be moved to the places of evidence recovery without being seen in public, but observed that the police could take appropriate steps to prevent onlookers from gathering.

The three are accused in the murder of a man in Alappuzha, with the allegations also including the theft of gold ornaments from the house. They argued that the board's order was inherently defective and that an investigation procedure not provided under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, could not be adopted in cases involving CCL.

Rejecting this, the court held that there was no bar to adopting a procedure of law in an investigation involving CCL, provided it strictly adhered to the cardinal principles for the care and protection of children enshrined in the Act. It further found that the Act contains no provision granting a CCL immunity from investigation merely because the accused is a child.

The board had earlier directed the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) to interview the CCL, noting that an interview would suffice to gather information on other accused persons, social media accounts, the purchase and disposal of gloves, the stolen gold ornaments, a SIM card, and the clothes worn by the CCL at the time of the alleged crime. The High Court noted that the board allowed the escorted movement after considering the SJPU's interview findings, as the investigating officer required the CCL's presence to gather further information.

Among the conditions imposed by the board were that the children would not be subjected to torture, that a medical examination would be conducted before travel, that their movement after returning to the observation home would be restricted to the purposes specified by the officer, that they would be transported in unidentifiable vehicles, that there would be no media access near the proceedings, and that movement would be kept away from public view.