Criminal Revision No. 1238 of 2008 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, at Chandigarh. Criminal Revision No. 1238 of 2008 Date of Decision: 4.8.2008 Piara Singh …Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and Another …Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA. Present: Mr. V.G.Dogra, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.S.Bajwa, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, for respondent No.1-State. Mr. Padam Kumar Jain, Advocate for respondent No.2. Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. (Oral) Paramjit Singh alias Pamma son of Jasbir Singh, respondent No.2, was accused in case FIR No. 183 dated 30.7.2007 registered Police Station Phagwara, under Sections 363, 366-A, 376 read with Section 34 IPC along with Ajay Kumar son of Chaman Lal. Prosecution after investigating the matter submitted a report under Section 173 Cr.P.C., in the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Kapurthala, an application was filed on behalf of respondent No.2 stating that he is a juvenile and should be dealt with under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. On the application so filed, evidence was called for. Criminal Revision No. 1238 of 2008 2 The present petition has been filed by the complainant. It has been contended that the complainant was not associated in the inquiry regarding the determination of age of respondent No.2. The inquiry was conducted by the trial Court. The trial Court determined the age of petitioner to be less than 18 years. For arriving at this conclusion, trial Court relied upon the statement of Sukhwinder Kaur as AW.1. She stated that date of birth of respondent No.2 Paramjit Singh is 7.2.1990. Reliance was placed upon birth certificate issued by the Additional District Registrar, Births and Deaths, Kapurthala, Ex.A1. Trial Court stated that juvenile in conflict with law on date of occurrence i.e. 30.7.2007 was less than 18 years of age. Therefore, his case was sent to the Juvenile Justice Board, Kapurthala. Aggrieved against the same, complainant has preferred the present revision petition. Reliance has been placed on a birth certificate to contend that date of birth of respondent No.2 is 7.2.1989 and not 7.2.1990. It has been further contended that certificate Ex.A1 which has been annexed as Annexure P2 is a fabricated document and name of grand father has been changed. It has been urged before me that the name of grand father of Paramjit Singh is not Tara Singh but Bhag Singh. To fortify his submission, counsel for the complainant/petitioner has further relied upon extract from the Gazette Notification of Punjab School Education Board to say that Paramjit Singh son of Jasbir Singh and Sukhwinder Kaur was born on 7.2.1989. Counsel for the petitioner further submits that had an opportunity been afforded to the complainant at the time of inquiry, these facts would not Criminal Revision No. 1238 of 2008 3 have escaped the consideration of the trial Court and the finding arrived at would have been different. Counsel further contends that once an application is filed to determine the age, the best Court to determine the age is none else but the Juvenile Justice Board. To controvert the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner, counsel for respondent No.2 contends that the name of grand father of the petitioner is Tara Singh and not Bhag Singh. He has further stated that Paramjit Singh has not studied in school and as stated by his mother in her testimony, he has only passed Class 1 and 2. I have heard counsel for the parties. By placing on record documents (Annexure P3 and P4) a serious doubt has been caused regarding the finding arrived at by the trial Court. Therefore, it will be in the interest of justice that a fresh inquiry be conducted by the trial Court by associating the complainant. Therefore, the order dated 30.5.2008 is set aside. The trial Court is directed to determine the age of respondent No.2 afresh after giving due opportunity to the complainant/petitioner to prove the documents placed before me. The parties shall appear before the trial Court on 19.8.2008. With these observations, the present petition is disposed off. (Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia) Judge August 4, 2008 “DK”