By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
Questioning the legislature, the High Court Judge Justice Subodh Abhyankar said, "no lesson has been learnt even though more than a decade has passed since the Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012"
Bhubaneswar: An irony on the law of the land. Despite amendment to the JJA (Juvenile Justice Act 2000) in 2015 to give it more teeth, the juvenile offenders seem mocking at the law.
In Odisha, around 3,725 cases registered under IPC sections against juvenile offenders are pending as on September 1st week end.
Now, the paradox is out the 3,725 pending IPC cases, a whopping 1,078 cases have been due to absconding by the juvenile accused.
This seems very grave as Odisha some years ago have witnessed the rearing of ugly head by teenager gangs like Koi Bhai Nahin in Bhubaneswar and Sandha in Cuttack, who through their videos have instilled a fear in the psyche of the city dwellers.
No wonder that, in Odisha, criminal intimidation by juveniles account for a whopping 20 -50 percent of the total juvenile crime in the State. As per NCRB, in 2022, 257 criminal intimidation cases were filed against juveniles. In 2021, the number count stood at 678.
A glance at the data over the years didn’t show any trend of up or downswing. The cases show inconsistent rise and fall over the years. But the cases constitute around 20% of the total IPC cases against juvenile accused over the years, hence such cases of juvenile criminal intimidation seem to be a crime trend in Odisha.
What is Criminal Intimidation?
The Supreme Court judgment in Narendra Kumar and ORS vs State in 2012 had very clearly explained what constituted criminal intimidation. As per it, threatening to :
* Cause injury to a person
* Cause injury to its reputation
*Cause injury to its property
*Cause injury to person or reputation of another person in whom the victim is interested.
Juvenile Accused Absconding – An Odisha Trend?
Sample this. Madhya Pradesh High Court on September 11 expressed distress over lenient treatment to juvenile accused of horrific crimes like rape.
Questioning the legislature, the High Court Judge Justice Subodh Abhyankar said, no lesson has been learnt even though more than a decade has passed since the Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012.
The anguish of the judge has been that a juvenile offender after committing the heinous crime of rape on a 4 year girl child has been on the run from the observation home since 2019 and remain untraceable. This resulted in delay of the trial, though convicted by trial court, as the accused Father has challenged the conviction in the HC. MP HC, however, upheld the trial court order.
The Court even directed to forward a copy of the order to the Law Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi.
