Teen accused of snatching told to plant 50 saplings

Gurgaon: The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) of Gurgaon has directed a juvenile, who was found guilty in a snatching case, to spend one year doing community service, and plant and look after 50 saplings of fruit-bearing plants.
The JJB directed the district forest officer (DFO) to supervise whether the juvenile is performing the work assigned to him satisfactory and to submit his report in a month’s time. The DFO will also decide which plants will be grown where. After a year, the juvenile, who has been directed to appear before the officer in seven days from the date of the order, will have to produce a certificate along with evidence that the plants are healthy.
JJB principal magistrate Manglesh Kumar Choubey, in his order dated June 3, observed that the purpose of the Juvenile Justice Act is rehabilitation. The juvenile, he said, confessed to his crime and showed the attitude to repent. Therefore the board, he added, decided to award him community service instead of sending him to a correction home. “There can be no community service better than an act to protect the environment and ecology,” reads the order.
On October 9, 2017, the teenager, along with an adult, had snatched a mobile from a person in Sector 7 under the jurisdiction of New Colony police station. They sold the mobile after changing its cover. A case was registered under IPC sections 379 A (snatching), 482 (using a false property mark), 201 (destroying evidence) and 34 (common intention).
The accused were arrested in January 2018. Another accused, who is an adult, was recently awarded five years’ imprisonment in the case. During the trial, the juvenile told the JJB that he was ready to face the punishment. He added that he had committed the mistake due to immaturity and requested the court to take a lenient view.
The board held the juvenile guilty but observed that he deserved community service. “The purpose of the JJ Act is to rehabilitate the juvenile. He has voluntarily admitted to his guilt and is repentant. There is no evidence of any other offence against him. On the basis of this, the board took a lenient view in favour of the juvenile and decided not to send him to correction home and directed him to do community service,” observe the court.