MOOT PROPOSITION

1. India is a diverse country where rich and poor live side-by-side, the former in their bungalows and the
latter in slums. More than 6 million of India’s population comprises slum dwellers who hardly earn their
daily livelihood. There are more than 1,00,000 slums in the country which serve as dwelling houses for
these poor people. Maharashtra is one of the States in India with maximum number of slums with more
than 10% of the population residing in slums.

2. Erik is a 15-year-old boy living with his mother in a slum in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His father was an
alcoholic and drug-addict and died two years ago due to overdose of drugs. After his father’s death, Erik
and his mother moved to the slum where living is cheaper and sustainable.

3. His mother works as a maid doing household chores in many houses in nearby bungalows and apartments
and the money earned from the work is spent on their food and shelter. Due to this, Erik had to leave his
education 1 year ago and now he spends most of his time with 3 of his friends, Nate, Cal and Ali, all of
whom are 15-year-old.

4. The boys used to hang around in nearby parks or assisted Cal’s father who was a fisherman and spent
time talking to each other. Sometimes, they also helped the nearby shopkeepers in transporting and
delivering goods to earn some pocket money. Even though they were poor, they had hope and faith that
someday they will also be able to live an affluent life.

5. It was Erik’s birthday the next day and since he was the first one among them to turn 16, the boys wanted
to celebrate his birthday with a birthday party. They spent the entire day thinking of how to arrange the
money required to purchase all the essentials for the party. They worked for different people- fishermen,
shopkeepers, cleaners, etc. but could hardly manage around a hundred rupees.

the chief rival of a person

6. Cal was the smartest and most wicked amongst the 4 friends. He suggested kidnapping of their arch rival
Tyler, a 12-year-old boy who lives with his parents in a bungalow nearby and often bullies them while
crossing the streets.

7. Cal had had frequent fights with Tyler when Tyler would not allow Cal to enter the park, or use the
swings. This idea came to him as a double opportunity; to threaten Tyler as well as ask ransom from his
parents. The boys started planning the kidnapping of Tyler because it had to be done before Erik’s
birthday so that money could be arranged in time.

8. Tyler goes to school at 8 AM which is the best time for execution of kidnapping. At 8 AM, their parents
leave for work, the lanes are not inhabited by a lot of people and Tyler’s parents will not be expecting him
 back till noon. The boys prepared accordingly, carried a huge jute bag to cover Tyler, ropes to tie him and
clothes to keep his mouth shut.

9. Tyler boards his school bus at the corner of the street and walks for 15 minutes from his home till the bus
stop. The boys covered their faces with handkerchiefs and attacked Tyler as soon as he reached the lane of
his house.

10. Tyler’s bungalow is the only house in that lane, and the entire lane remains isolated throughout the day
and at 8 AM, even an animal could not be seen. They tied him up, covered half his body with the jute bag
and blocked his mouth. They carried him to Erik’s house because it was only Erik whose house was
empty at that time. They waited for darkness to fall and then carried him towards the sea where Cal’s
father worked as a fisherman.

11. Cal knows many boat owners in the area and they got a boat for the evening to enjoy where Tyler was
carried to and kept hidden. Meanwhile, Tyler’s parents had already informed the police about their son’s
disappearance and the police was on a lookout for him. The only thing left was to make the phone call and
ask for ransom which was left for Nate because he had a telephone in his home that could be used. Nate
called Tyler’s parents and informed them about their son’s kidnapping and asked for Rs. 10,000/- as
ransom in cash within 1 hour.

12. There was serious lack of implementation in their plan because of which the police tracked down the
caller within 30 minutes and all 4 friends were arrested and taken to the police station. Despite several
requests from the parents of the accused boys, they were kept in lock-up for the entire night. Erik spent
his entire birthday planning a crime and then in the police station. The boys were charged with
Kidnapping for ransom under Section 364A read with Section 34 of the IPC, 1860 and the police sent the
case for trial.

13. Cal, Nate and Ali were tried before the Juvenile Justice Board because of their minor age. They agreed to
everything they had done and the board convicted them for the offence of kidnapping with ransom and
sent them to an NGO named Child Rights and We (CRW), a Special Home constituted under Section 48
of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 for a period of 3 months.

14. On the other hand, Erik was subjected to the preliminary assessment by Juvenile Justice Board under
Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and sent for trial by the Special Court under Section 18(3) of
the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 as an adult on the count of kidnapping for ransom and sentenced to 5 years
of imprisonment.
 15. Erik’s mother was completely broken but she neither had any means to appeal nor any idea about the
remedies available to them. One of the social workers in the NGO, Child Rights & We, Ms. Rue used to
sit and talk with the children in her Special Home to help them rehabilitate

16. On one such occasion, Cal and his friends mentioned about Erik and how he was sent to jail one month
back because of their fault. Ms. Rue who has always been vigorous for child rights and leaves no
opportunity to fight for them, started working on the case and reading the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

17. She approached her supervisors and explained that the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 is unconstitutional
because it creates two classes of children: one below 16 years of age and another between 16 to 18 years
of age. She also claimed that there is no reasoning behind creating this distinction between children of
different age groups and hence, the provisions of the Act are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

18. Hearing this, the NGO filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India
stating that Sections 15, 18 & other ancillary provisions of the JJ Act, 2015 are unconstitutional and
deserve to be struck down.

19. The Supreme Court listed the case for first hearing and framed the following issues to be argued upon:

a. Whether the Hon’ble Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to entertain the present petition.

b. Whether Sections 15, 18 and all ancillary provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 are violative of Article
14.

Note: Teams are required to frame & argue only the two issues mentioned above and not add or subtract any
issue. However, teams are absolutely free to create sub-issues within an issue for their convenience.
Disclaimer: All facts mentioned in the above proposition are purely fictious and any resemblance to any person,
place, situation is purely coincidental.