Principles of Legislation and Interpretation of Statutes: Case Analysis On Shilpa Mittal V/S State of Nct Delhi & Another

Abstract

The term ‘Interpretation’ refers to the process of determining the true meaning of an enactment and is the most important function of the judicial bodies. The court has to follow certain set principles which have emerged through various interpretations done by the courts in order to fulfil the intentions of the legislature. Over the period of time, there are several rules and principles of interpretations of statues that have emerged. Here for the purpose of analyzing the case of Shilpa Mittal v/s St. of NCT of Delhi 1 , we will be discussing the Golden Rule of interpretation. This Rule is applied in order to determine the legislature’s intention from the terms used in the enactment through their ordinary/natural interpretation, and only changing the meaning to a certain degree in order to prevent absurdity, repugnance, difficulty or unfairness. The given case discusses questions regarding how should a juvenile be treated under a category of a crime that is not in the Statute but is asserted by the appellant to be included as a “heinous” offence. The case is significant in understanding how the court interpreted the statute, in order to clear the ambiguity regarding the fourth category of offence that is an offence prescribing a maximum punishment of more than seven years imprisonment but not providing any minimum punishment, or providing a minimum punishment of less than seven years. The main aim of this article is to analyze the case in accordance with the rules of interpretation used by the courts to come to a decision.