Chauhan was booked under Section 376 (f) (rape by a relative, guardian, teacher, person in a position of trust or authority) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A sessions court at Thane found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment on December 9, 2005. Since then, Chauhan had been lodged at the Nashik Central Prison in Maharashtra. He did not challenge the conviction order.
Chauhan, however, made an application for premature release from prison in terms of the State government’s remission policy after completing 14 years of imprisonment.
This remission plea was rejected by the State government on November 7, 2019.
He challenged this government order before the High Court in 2021, claiming that it had been mechanically passed.
In 2022, he filed an interim application seeking release on the ground that he was a juvenile when he committed the offence.
On July 14, 2022, the High Court directed the prosecution to verify documents such as Chauhan’s school leaving certificate, which he relied on to prove that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.
After verifying these documents, the Court noted that Chauhan was born in 1988 and was about 16 years of age when he committed the offence in 2005. Hence the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was squarely applicable to him, the Court said.
In view of this, the Court ordered his immediate release from prison.
Source: Barandbench
