Special reasons to be recorded in certain cases :
Section – 361 . Where in any case the Court could have dealt with,—
| (a) | Â | an accused person under section 360 or under the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 (20 of 1958), or |
| (b) | Â | a youthful offender under the Children Act, 1960 (60 of 1960), or any other law for the time being in force for the treatment, training or rehabilitation of youthful offenders, |
but has not done so, it shall record in its judgment the special reasons for not having done so.
COMMENTS
JOINT COMMITTEE OF PARLIAMENT
Court to give special reasons for not applying special laws – This is a new provision. The Joint Committee of Parliament in recommending this provision observed :
“It has come to the notice of the Committee that the salutory provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, the Children Act, 1960 or other similar laws intended for the treatment of youthful offenders are being applied by courts only rarely although it was expected that the provisions of these Acts would be applied liberally by the courts. To ensure that they are so applied, the new provision has been inserted requiring the court to give reasons in the judgment for not applying the provisions of the special laws whenever they may be applied.”
Non-mention of special reasons, effect of – Where in a case the thirty-five years old accused was sentenced for manufacturing illicit arms as a business proposition and there was no circumstance mitigating the gravity of the crime, it was held that non-mention of special reasons for non-invoking the provisions of sections 360 and 361 did not render the sentence erroneous – Khalif v. State 1976 Cr. LJ 465.