Supreme Court sets aside order declaring man as juvenile on basis of school certificate

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside an order declaring a man as a juvenile in a murder case, holding that when the school is not a government one, the records maintained by it would not be considered as a ‘public documents’ and the headmaster or principal of such a school cannot be said to be a ‘public servant’ for the purposes of the Evidence Act.

A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said although the issue of juvenility, indubitably and primarily has to be determined as per the relevant provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Rules framed thereunder, as applicable at the relevant time, yet under appropriate circumstances and with justifiable reasons, the court examining the issue has the discretion to take other relevant materials and factors into account, for ultimately the cause of justice has to prevail.

The court set aside the Allahabad High Court's judgment of March 29, 2016, which upheld an order by Muzaffarnagar court declaring Devi Singh as a ‘juvenile’ under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

The court found the approach adopted by the Trial Court as well as the High Court was "not proper.''

It rejected the claim of juvenility on the basis of school certificate as the headmaster also testified that it was recorded on oral statement by the father and no record even horoscope was produced despite a request.

Appellant, Suresh, whose brother was killed, provided the family register under UP Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 disclosing the year of birth of the accused as 1991.

He also produced voters’ list for the Legislative Assembly of 2012 and the report by a medical officer, stating that he was found to be 20-21 years on the date of incident of August 31, 2011.

"It is clear that the accused cannot be said to have been a ‘juvenile’ on the date of the unfortunate incident," the bench said.

The bench cited Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007, which laid down the sequential list of certificates to be examined in such cases.

Since the date of the school first attended was considered and found as unreliable, the birth certificate of panchayat or municipal corporation or medical board can be taken into account, the court said.

"In the present case, serious allegation was made that on the exhortation of his father, the accused along with his father forcibly took the deceased Rajesh inside their house, whereafter he took out a country-made pistol and shot the deceased, resulting in his death," the bench said.

In the case, four certificates have been produced from schools based on the certificates issued by the first attended school, Kaushik Modern Public School, Khurgaon, which recorded his date of birth as April 18, 1995.

Holding the declaration of juvenility as "plainly improper", the court directed for treating the accused as a major for the trial to be completed by July, 2026. It also ordered the accused to surrender within three weeks.