The high court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Sajal Barui and his friend Debasish Sen for murdering Sajal’s father, step-mother and step-brother but waived their life-sentence as they were only 15 years old when they had committed the crime in 1993.

Sajal, however, will still be behind bars as he had committed several crimes, including a robbery, after jumping bail in the murder case.

The division bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice A.K. Roy held that Sajal and Debasish would have been tried under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2006, which lacks the provision for life imprisonment, had it been framed earlier.

“So this court is waiving their life sentence,” the division bench ruled following a plea by Sajal and Debasish.

The murder case had been heard in the Barasat court, which sentenced the duo and another accused to death. Following a high court order, the Barasat court commuted the death penalty to life in prison.