Chandigarh, Oct. 1 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has quashed a Juvenile Justice Board order (JJB) denying bail to a murder accused child in conflict with law without procuring a social investigation report. While remanding back the case for fresh examination, the bench of justice Surya Partap Singh termed JJB's move "strange" and without any reasonable grounds the JJB and the appellate court formed the opinion, with regard to release of the juvenile on bail. As per JJ Act, under which children in conflict with law are tried for offences, SIT is procured for in depth assessment of a juvenile social-economic background, family history and other circumstances relevant to the alleged offence. In the case in hand, the bail plea was from a juvenile from Panipat, booked for murder on October 2, 2023 in Panipat. The juvenile and a major were accused of killing a village boy from a scheduled caste community and dumping the body on the outskirts. The 16-year-old juvenile's bail plea was dismissed in February 2024 by the JJB followed by the additional sessions judge, Panipat. The court observed that both JJB and appellate court, were "swayed by the facts projected by the prosecution" wherein a prominent role was attributed to the juvenile for committing an offence of "very serious nature". "However, while dealing with an application moved by a child-in-conflict-with law, the parameters for consideration are altogether different," the court said while referring to conditions laid down in the law. As per JJ Act the bail can be denied, when reasonable grounds are there that the juvenile associates with known criminals and that his release would expose the juvenile to moral physical and psychological danger. The court observed that even as JJB noted in its order that it was aware of these conditions yet the order does not record the reasons justifying the denial of right of bail. "..simply because there are allegations that a heinous crime has been committed by the petitioner, this inference cannot be drawn under any of the three conditions . in JJ Act, stands satisfied," it said. "One of the most- strange part is that even the social investigation report was not obtained by the learned Juvenile Justice Board and even the impugned order is silent about the material available, which led the learned Juvenile Justice Board to form an opinion that the instant case was a fit case wherein right to bail should have been denied to the petitioner," it said remanding back the case to JJB for a fresh order....