Cost and compensation
Section 5 of the Probation of the Offenders Act, 1958 says that if any person is released under
Section 3 or Section 4 of this Act, even then the court might order:
The offender to pay compensation to the victim for the loss or the injury occurred
to him. Or
Cost of the proceeding as the court may think reasonable.
Case laws
1. Rajeshwari Prasad v. Ram Babu Gupta, AIR 1961 Pat 19 – The amount of
compensation is purely on the discretion of the court to grant if it thinks it is
reasonable in the case. Thus, deciding the amount of compensation, it is solely the
court’s discretion to require payment and costs where it finds.
Offenders under 21 years of age
Section 6 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 talks about the restriction on the
imprisonment of offenders under twenty-one years of age. This provision says that offenders
who are under 21 years of age are not sent to prison where the offence is not so serious as to
warrant imprisonment for life or death. Important points to be remembered before the
application of Section 6:
In cases where the accused is below 21 years of age, the Court shall call for the
report of the Probation Officer. If the court’s opinion is not desirable with offender
either on the ground of admonition (Section 3) or on the ground of release on
probation of good conduct (Section 4), the Court can pass sentence of
imprisonment on the offender who is under 21 of years ago but the Court cannot
sentence him without recording reasons for doing so. The Court has an obligation
to see whether Section 3 or 4 of the Act applies or not. For this purpose, the Court
must call for the report of the Probation Officer. Therefore, the report of the
Probation Officer is mandatory when the offender is under 21 years of age.
The court considers the nature of the offence and the character, physical and
mental condition of the offender before making any decision.
It is difficult for the court to come to a conclusion whether Section 3 or Section 4
applies or not unless the Court considers the report of the Probation Officer,
therefore, the report of the Probation Officer is mandatory under Section 6 of the
Act.
On receiving a report, the Court peruses it and decides whether the offender can be
released on admonition or probation of good conduct or not.
After receiving the report, if the court orders that the offender shall not be
released, applying Section 3 or Section 4 of the Act, the Court can pass sentence to
the offender recording the reasons for doing so.
Case laws
1. Daulat Ram v. The State of Haryana 1972 SC 2434 – In this case, it was held that
the aim of this Section was to protect the youth. The juvenile offenders would not
be sent to jail if their crime was not as serious as to punish them with life
imprisonment or death. Therefore, the provision should be liberally construed
keeping in view the spirit embodied therein.
2. Ramji Nissar v. The State of Bihar; AIR 1963 SC 1088 – In this case, the Supreme
Court observed that the object of the Act, 1958 is to prevent the turning of
youthful offenders into criminals by their association with hardened criminals of
mature age within the walls of a prison. The method adopted is to attempt their
possible reformation instead of inflicting on them the normal punishment for their
crimes. The person’s age problem is important not for the purpose of assessing his
or her guilt, but rather for the purpose of punishing the crime for which he or she is
found guilty. Consequently, if a court determines that the defendant was not under
the age of 21 on the day the court found him guilty, Section 6 does not apply.
Report of probation officers
Section 7 of the Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 deals with the clause that the report of
the probating officer is kept confidential. No Probation Officer’s report is necessary to apply
Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act but such report is must under Section 6 of
Probation of Offenders Act if the offender is under 21 years of age. However, if such a report
is available on the record, under Section 4 of the Act, the Court shall not ignore it and that the
Court shall take the report into consideration.
