CONDITIONS ENUNCIATED IN SECTION 37 NDPS ACT NOT APPLICABLE IN JUVENILE'S CASE; S. 12 JJ ACT OVERRIDES S. 37 NDPS ACT

CONDITIONS ENUNCIATED IN SECTION 37 NDPS ACT NOT APPLICABLE IN JUVENILE'S CASE; S. 12 JJ ACT OVERRIDES S. 37 NDPS ACT

26th DECEMBER 2020

The Patna High Court ruled that the denial and conditions as articulated in Section 37 of the NDPS Act, will not be valid in the case of a juvenile. The Bench of Justice Sudhir Singh also stated that the legislature planned to give an overriding effect to Section 12 of Juvenile Justice. The Court was hearing a petition filed against the order passed by the ASJ, Patna, in Spl. (Child) Case No. 01/19, under Sections 20(b), 23, 25, and 29 of the N.D.P.S. Act, where the prayer for bail made on behalf of the petitioner was rejected.

The petitioner was working as the Khalasi of a Truck from where a huge quantity i.e., 1814.70 kgs., of Ganja was collected and he was detained on the spot. He took the appeal that he was a juvenile when the crime was committed, further, the Juvenile Justice Board assessed the age of the appellant as 16 years 09 months and 21 days and so he was considered to be a juvenile; more suitably called a 'child in conflict with law'.