Supreme Court: 3 Months' Time Limit For Preliminary Assessment Of Juvenile As Per Section 14(3) Not Mandatory | JJ Act

The Supreme Court in the case Child In Conflict With Law Through His Mother Versus.

The State Of Karnataka And Another observed and has held that the time limit of three months prescribed under Section 14(3) of the Juvenile Justice, the Care and Protection Act, 2015 for ascertaining the mental and physical capacity of a child below the age of sixteen years to commit a serious offence is not mandatory but directory.

The bench comprising of Justice C.T. Ravikumar and Justice Rajesh Bindal in the case observed and has stated that as in the process of preliminary inquiry there is involvement of many persons, namely, the investigating officer, the experts whose opinion is to be obtained, and the proceedings initiated before the Board, where for different reasons any of the party may be able to delay the proceedings, in our opinion the time so provided under Section 14(3) cannot be held to be mandatory, as no such consequences of failure have been provided as is there in case of enquiry into petty offences in terms of Section 14(4) of the Act.