Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty cannot be imposed on a person who was a minor at the time of committing an offence, overturning a death sentence in the murder of Abdul Muheeth.

Muheeth (Bobby), was stabbed to death in February 2012 near the Finance Ministry. In 2013, two minors were sentenced to death by the Juvenile Court over the killing. The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered its ruling in the case of one of them.

High Court had previously upheld the death sentence for the defendant, who was 17 at the time of the offence. Prosecutors later sought to have the verdict made final at the Supreme Court, but withdrew the application following the enactment of the Child Justice Act in 2019.

Under the law, individuals cannot be sentenced to death for crimes committed before the age of 18, and such a penalty cannot be imposed even after they reach adulthood.

The prosecution subsequently asked the Juvenile Court to revise the sentence, but the court said it lacked the authority to do so unless a higher court overturned the ruling. The defendant then petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing that the sentence violated the Child Justice Act.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty is not legally permissible in such cases. The court also noted that the offender was a minor and that qisas or retributive punishment under Islamic law could not be applied.

The court quashed the rulings of both the Juvenile Court and the High Court, and ordered a retrial at the Juvenile Court.

Two other individuals, Mohamed Maimoon of Lhaviyani Naifaru and Muhujath Ahmed Nasih of Gaafu Dhaalu Gadhdhoo, were also sentenced to death by the Criminal Court in connection with Muheeth’s murder. Their case remains pending at the High Court.