Sanjeev Kumar Gupta vs The State Of Uttar Pradesh

2 On 28 October 2015, a First Information Report was lodged by the appellant at PS Ekka in the district of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh which was registered as Case Crime 252 of 2016 under Section 364 A of the Penal Code. The allegation is that the appellant received a call on his cell phone from an unknown number and the caller wished to speak to his son, claiming to be his teacher. The appellant’s 1 Criminal Revision 2952 of 2017 2 son who was about thirteen years old was studying in the eighth standard in a public school in Shikohabad. After calling back on the number, the appellant’s son left his shop after a conversation, never to return. The victim is alleged to have been murdered after a demand for ransom. His body was allegedly found in a canal. The second respondent was arrested during the course of the investigation. 3 On 9 December 2015, the accused filed an application claiming to be a juvenile on the date of the incident under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 20002. He submitted that on the date of the alleged offence he was sixteen years ten months and eleven days old. In support of the claim, he relied on a matriculation certificate issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education 3, Delhi reflecting his date of birth as 17 December 1998. 4 By an order dated 2 July 2016 the Juvenile Justice Board 4 allowed the application of the second respondent – accused and declared him to be a juvenile on the date of the alleged offence. The appellant instituted a criminal appeal before the Court of the Sessions Judge, Firozabad5. On 16 September 2016, the Sessions Judge remanded the case to the JJB for determination of the age of the second respondent upon medical examination. The Chief Medical Officer, Agra constituted a Medical Board which in its report dated 19 November 2016 found that the age of the second respondent was about nineteen years. Aggrieved by the order of the 2 Act of 2000 3 CBSE 4 JJB 5 Criminal Appeal 41 of 2016 3 Sessions Judge, the second respondent filed a revision 6 before the High Court which was dismissed as withdrawn on 4 January 2017. He instituted a petition7 under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 19738 which was disposed of by the High Court on 17 April 2017 directing the early disposal of the pending application of the second respondent. On 1 July 2017, the JJB rejected the claim of juvenility on the basis of the medical report. The JJB also observed that the second respondent had filed an application for obtaining a driving license and an Aadhaar card in which he had declared his date of birth as 17 December 1995. On this basis, the JJB held that the second respondent was an adult on the date of the incident. The second respondent filed an appeal against the order of the JJB before the Sessions Judge, Firozabad9. The Sessions Judge rejected the appeal by an order dated 2 August 2017 observing, on the basis of the decision of this Court in Prag Bhati v State of Uttar Pradesh10 that the credibility and authenticity of the documents depends upon the circumstances of each case and that in a case involving conflicting school certificates, a further inquiry would be required. The Sessions Judge also placed reliance on the decision of this Court in Ramdeo Chauhan alias Raj Nath v State of Assam11.

6 Notice was issued in the Special Leave Petition was instituted before this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution on 14 January 2019. On 16 April 2019, 12 Rules of 2007 13 (2012) 9 SCC 750 5 this Court issued notice to the CBSE and directed it to produce all necessary records pertaining to the second respondent. CBSE was directed to file an affidavit explaining the basis on which the date of birth was recorded in the matriculation certificate. On 6 May 2019 after the records were produced before this Court an affidavit was filed by CBSE. An opportunity was given to the parties to respond. After the parties have filed their affidavits and responses, the proceedings have been taken up for final disposal.

15 For the above reasons, we allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment and order of the High Court dated 14 November 2018. Criminal Revision 2952 of 2017 shall in consequence stand dismissed. The order passed by the Sessions Judge, confirming the decision of the JJB rejecting the claim of juvenility is accordingly maintained. The second respondent shall accordingly be dealt with 20 in accordance with law on the basis of the finding recorded in the present judgment, rejecting the claim of juvenility.

.....................................................J [Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud] .....................................................J [Indira Banerjee] New Delhi;

July 25, 2019