The Supreme Court has reversed the life sentence it had imposed on a convict and acquitted him of the charge of murder, 22 years after the crime was committed in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district.

Brijnandan alias Brajesh Sharma, also found guilty of offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has established hisclaim of being a juvenile at the time of the crime on January 17, 2002.

A special judge in Bhind district had sentenced Brijnandan and three others to life imprisonment for murder on February 24, 2006. On an appeal, Madhya Pradesh High Court acquitted all four of the murder charge, aggrieved by which the state had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The apex court on March 9, 2022, allowed the appeal filed by the state and restored the conviction and life sentence on all four convicts.

However, Brijnandan filed a fresh miscellaneous application in the apex court, claiming he was a juvenile at the timeof the offence and hence entitled to be freed under the Juvenile Justice Act because he had already completed four years in jail.

The apex court on May 16 directed the sessions court of Bhind district to conduct an inquiry on the claim of juvenility and submit a report.

The report dated July 16, 2024, by the special judge (atrocities), Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, confirmed that the applicant’s date of birth is October 4, 1984, and consequently on the date of the incident — January 17, 2002 — he was 17 years, 3 months and 13 days old at the time of the offence.

“The claim of juvenility... is upheld and the conviction as recorded against him by this Court is set aside,” the top court said.