Juvenile justice act

Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice act, 2015 deals with the Penalty for cruelty to a child. The categorization of compoundable/uncompoundable offenses is done under Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In this case, a case filed under Section 72 of the JJ Act is compoundable with the permission of the court. A quashing petition under Section 482 has to be filed in the same court in which the trial is held. The court will accept or decline the request for compounding at its own discretion.

What are the facts? What is the context?

Dear User,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your question.

The short answer to your question is NO. Offences under the Juvenile Justice Act are not compoundable.

Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 prescribes the punishment for cruelty towards a child. It states that any person who subjects a child to any unnecessary punishment, torture, abuse, assault, or wilfully neglects the child, or procures the child to be assaulted, punished, tortured, abused, or neglected, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of upto three years or with a fine of one lakh rupees or both.

Compoundable offences are those offences wherein it is possible for the complainant to enter into a compromise with the accused and drop the charges against them. Such a compromise should be done with a bona fide intention, meaning that the case should not be compounded in return for any consideration to the victim. Essentially, this compromise should be made with a good intention and should be genuine. Therefore, only those offences are compoundable that are relatively petty in nature. Some offences can only be compounded after receiving permission from the Court. Section 320 of the CrPC mentions the offences that are compoundable in nature, which includes offences like theft, uttering words with the intent of hurting the religious feelings of someone, defamation, etc. The same is mentioned in Section 359 of the new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 23.

Therefore, since cruelty towards a child is not mentioned in section 320 of the CrPC, along with it being a serious offence, makes it non-compoundable.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

Regards,

Aadil