NDPS - Juvenile Delinquency - Age of Accused - When School Certificate is not disputed, no justification in relying on certain statements - SC
HOW do you determine the age of an accused in a NDPS case? Is he a juvenile to be tried by the Juvenile Justice Board or an adult who can be tried by a Criminal trial court?
In this case, the appellant pleaded that he was a juvenile at the time of offence based on his school certificate.
The Trial Court did not accept the school certificate.
The Supreme Court observed, "in a case where genuineness of the school leaving certificate has not been questioned, the Sessions Court and the High Court were not justified in placing reliance on certain statements made by Parkash Kaur, mother of the accused in the cross-examination. The Sessions Court also committed an error in placing reliance on the certificate issued by the village Chowkidar who was examined as RW2 . When the law gives prime importance to the date of birth certificate issued by the school first attended, the genuineness of which is not disputed, there is no question of placing reliance on the certificate issued by the village Chowkidar" .
The Supreme Court held the appellant to be a juvenile on the date of the incident and had to be tried by the Juvenile Justice Board.