S.C. Narang vs State (NCT Of Delhi) 2025 INSC 688 - S.75 Juvenile Justice Act

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015- Section 75 -A person who can be punished for cruelty to a child must be shown to have either the actual charge of the child or control over the child. The reference to the child in Section 75 is to the victim of the offence.[Context: In this case, the accused was Chairman of the Managing Committee, which runs a school which has classes from KG to 12th standard- Allowing appeal, SC held: it is impossible to even allege that the appellant, being Chairman of the Managing Committee, had the actual charge of all the children studying in the school run by the institution. It cannot be said that he had control over all the children in the School. He may have control over the management of the institution which runs the School. That does not give him control over every child studying in the school. While considering the applicability of Section 75 of the JJ Act, we are not concerned with the moral responsibility of the school's management. Assuming that the appellant was morally responsible, Section 75 of the JJ Act cannot be applied unless it is shown that the appellant had the actual charge of the victim child or control over the victim child.]