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Taking into account that the appellant had already undergone more than the statutory maximum period of detention permissible under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the court accepted his plea of juvenility and directed his release. The bench further clarified that the sentence of life imprisonment, the sentence of seven years' rigorous imprisonment, together with the fine and default stipulations imposed by the trial court, cannot operate against the appellant.

The court also affirmed the applicability of Section 19 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which provides that a juvenile dealt with under the Act shall not suffer any disqualification attached to a conviction under another law. It directed that the appellant shall not suffer any disqualification attached to the conviction in terms of Section 19 of the 2000 Act. The Juvenile Justice Board, Sonepat was directed to ensure compliance with the consequential statutory requirements concerning the records.

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The appeal was partly allowed. The conviction was affirmed, but the sentence was set aside, resulting in the release of the appellant who had already served a period exceeding the maximum permissible detention under the JJ Act, 2000.

The appearance for the appellant included Mrs. Prabhati Nayak, Mr. Umakant Misra, Mr. Debabrata Dash, Mr. Soubhagya Ranjan Pati, Ms. Apoorva Sharma, Ms. Anu Tiwari, and Mr. Niranjan Sahu, AOR. The respondents were represented by Mr. Rajesh K. Singh, Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR, Ms. Deepika Singh, Mr. Amit Pandey, Mr. Rovins Fr. Verma, Ms. Sabarni Som, Mr. Aman Dev Sharma, and Mr. Gaj Singh, Advocates.

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