Hansraj v. State of U.P 2025 INSC 1211 - Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000- JJ Act, 2000 would be applicable to any proceeding which is pending before any Court/Authority initiated under the 1986 Act and pending when the JJ Act, 2000 came into force. [Context: In this case, SC held: Since there is no quarrel with the fact that the petitioner was a child at the time of commission of the offence and the petitioner having been behind bars for more than 3 years, his liberty has been curtailed not in accordance with procedure established by law. Breach of the right guaranteed by Article 21 is writ large and, hence, the benefit of release from detention ought to be extended to the petitioner.
Case Info
- Case name: Hansraj v. State of U.P.
- Neutral citation: 2025 INSC 1211
- Coram: Justice Dipankar Datta; Justice Augustine George Masih
- Judgment date: October 09, 2025
Caselaws and Citations
- Pratap Singh v. State of Jharkhand: (2005) 3 SCC 551.
- Satya Deo @ Bhoorey v. State of Uttar Pradesh: (2020) 10 SCC 555.
- Vinod Katara v. State of Uttar Pradesh: (2023) 15 SCC 210.
- Shilpa Mittal v. State (NCT of Delhi): (2020) 2 SCC 787.
- Lakhan Lal v. State of Bihar: (2011) 2 SCC 251.
- Dharambir v. State (NCT of Delhi): (2010) 5 SCC 344.
- Hari Ram v. State of Rajasthan: (2009) 13 SCC 211.
Statutes/Laws Referred
- Constitution of India: Article 32; Article 21; Article 136.
- Indian Penal Code, 1860: Sections 302/149, 147, 148; Section 149.
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 374(2).
- Children’s Act, 1960: including Section 24 (prohibiting joint trial of a child with non-child).
- Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000: Sections 2(k), 2(l), 7‑A, 20, 49.
- Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007: Rules 12, 98.
- Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: Section 9(2) proviso (as a successor to Section 7‑A of the 2000 Act).
