Planting more and more trees is the need of the hour. And the government is getting increasingly creative to get citizens to do it. The municipality of Kodungallur, Kerala has mandated that locals getting their house registered should plant two trees like mango or jackfruit in their compound. Also, Chambal and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh have implemented a new rule for gun license seekers. They need to plant 10 saplings, take care of them for a month and attach photographic evidence with their applications!
Now, the Supreme Court has directed an offender to plant 100 trees within a year as community service for a juvenile offence. Here are the details of the case.
According to The Hindu, a 32-year-old doctor named Solemen S.K. was charged with attempting to commit murder. The Calcutta High Court found him guilty and punished him with a 3-year prison sentence. Subsequently, he filed an appeal with the apex court stating that he was 16 (a minor) at the time of the offence.
Upon confirming his claims, Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta decided against sending the case to a Juvenile Board. They said, “Instead, we are of the opinion that the ends of justice would be met by directing the petitioner who is now a registered medical practitioner aged 32 years, practising in Murshidabad to perform community service.”
“The learned counsel for the State suggested that this obligation of performing community service could be met with by a direction to the petitioner to plant trees. We accept the suggestion made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and direct the petitioner to plant 100 trees within a period of one year.”
What do you guys think of this judgement? Is it the way forward or not strict enough?