Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
Section 79—Exploitation of a child employee—Petition to quash proceedings—Allegation against petitioner is that inspite of using service of victim minor child who was aged about 17 years more than the prescribed working hours, he is paying less salary to the victim—Averments in the complaint do not reveal that how many hours victim worked and what is the salary paid by the petitioner—Essential ingredient to attract the offence under Section 79 of the Juvenile Justice Act is that the minor child must be kept in bondage for purpose of employment or the child’s earnings should be withheld or such earnings shall be used by employer for his own purpose, where as the said allegations are not there in the complaint or in the charge-sheet—Since neither the victim minor kept in bondage for purpose of employment nor the petitioner engaged the victim minor without paying any amount, the offence under Section 79 of the Act does not attract and the proceedings against the petitioner are liable to be quashed—Petition allowed.
[Paras 6 & 7]