Patna High Court - Orders
Ram Awadh Choudhary vs State Of Bihar on 23 September, 2011
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CR. REV. No.313 of 2009
Ram Awadh Choudhary, son of Late Banwari Choudhary,
resident of village-Belaur, P.S.-Udwant Nagar, District- Bhojpur,
Ara.
......Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Bihar.
2. Ashutosh Kumar @ Asutosh Choudhary, son of Sunil
Choudhary, resident of village-Belaur, P.S.-Udwant
Nagar, District- Bhojpur, Ara.
.....Opposite Party
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5. 23.09.2011The informant-petitioner has preferred this revision application under Section 53 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) against the order dated 5.05.2007 passed by the learned Juvenile Justice Board, Patna in J.J. Board Case No.67/07 arising out of Udwant Nagar P.S. Case No.228/06 by which the accused opposite party no.2 Ashutosh Kumar has been declared a juvenile.
The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 29.11.2006, the victim girl aged about 4 years was missing from the early morning. On search, she could not be found. On 30.11.2006 at about 7.00 A.M., the information-petitioner came to know that the dead body of the victim girl had been thrown in a bush. The informant went there and found that her neck was tied with rope and Danda and 2 blood was coming out from her neck and from private part of the victim girl. It was suspected that after committing rape, she has been murdered. On the basis of the aforesaid information given by the informant, Udwant Nagar P.S. Case No.228/06 under Sections 302, 376 and 201 of the I.P.C. was instituted. During investigation, it came to the notice that the opposite party no.2 has committed the aforesaid offence. The opposite party no.2 took a plea that he was a juvenile on the basis of the certificate and he was declared juvenile by the impugned order.
The main contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the learned Juvenile Justice Board without examining the certificate and without constituting a medical board has declared the opposite party no.2 as juvenile, which is against the law. It has further been submitted that the opposite party no.2 has been declared a juvenile on the basis of false documents procured by him. The headmaster of the High School and Middle School, Balaur have given report which shows that the certificate of opposite party no.2 are totally false as the Middle School has not issued any certificate in the name of the opposite party no.2 and he has got the admission in the 3 High School on the basis of forged certificate. He has further submitted that the Head Master of C.G.Chaudhary High School, Balaur (Bhojpur) has given a certificate dated 29.06.2011 that the opposite party no.2 was a regular student of the High School. He was admitted in the school on the basis of transfer certificate dated 13.01.2004 issued by the Middle School, Balour and his date of birth is 20.01.1991. He has further submitted that the Head Master of the Middle School, Balour has issued a letter no.3 dated 8.07.2011 in pursuance to the information sought for under the R.T.I. Act that on the date of issuance of this transfer certificate, no student namely Ashutosh Kumar, son of Sunil Chaudhary was admitted in this school. It has been further submitted that in the new facts and circumstances, the Juvenile Justice Board should be directed to hold a fresh inquiry under Section 49 of the Act.
The learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 has submitted that the impugned order has been passed by the learned Juvenile Justice Board on the basis of the original copy of the admit card and the registration card issued by the Bihar School Examination Board, Patna as well as the 4 attested copy of the admission paper of Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Dariyapur, Bihta where the date of birth of the opposite party no.2 has been mentioned as 20.01.1991. The date of occurrence is 30.11.2006. After perusing the documents filed on behalf of the accused, it has been held that the opposite party no.2 was aged about 15 years 10 months and 10 days. No one raised any question regarding the genuineness of the certificate/admit card issued by the Bihar School Examination Board, Patna. A reply on behalf of the opposite party no.2 to the supplementary affidavit dated 6.09.2011 and 12.09.2011 filed on behalf of the petitioner has been filed and it has been submitted that the opposite party no.2 passed class 8 examination, which was conducted by the District Evaluation Committee, Bhojpur in which the date of birth has been mentioned as 20.01.1991 (Annexure-A/2 and its mark-sheet is Annexure B/2) and his date of birth as mentioned in the registration no.0731-027-06659-06 of the year 2006 as S.J.C. High School, Balour is also 20.01.1991 (Annexure-C/2) and the same date has also been mentioned in the admit card issued by the Bihar School Examination Board and also in the mark-sheet and the certificate of Secondary School 5 Examination 2007 granted by the Bihar School Examination Board (Annexure D/2, E-2 and F/2 respectively). It has been further submitted that the petitioner has continued his study and he is studying in B.A. Part II (Hons) at S.B. College, Ara under the Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, Bhojpur and in the college register also his date of birth is 20.01.1991. It has also been submitted that the opposite party no.2 has been granted bail under the Act vide order dated 3.10.2007 passed by a Bench of this Court in Cr. Rev. No.993/07. Against this order, the petitioner moved the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide S.L.P. (Criminal) No.756/08, which has been dismissed on 20.11.2009. He has further submitted that according to the Rule 22 (5) of Bihar Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2003, the date of birth certificate is the first necessity for determination of being juvenile and only in absence of birth certificate either issued by the Corporation, the date of birth certificate from the school first attended and the matriculation certificate or equivalent certificate, the medical opinion is required to be obtained for determination. Learned counsel for the Opposite party 6 no.2 has further submitted that the certificates granted by the Institute and also by the Bihar School Examination Board and also by the District Evaluation Committee, Bhojpur, no one has raised any objection regarding genuineness of the aforesaid documents and as such, the learned Juvenile Justice Board has rightly declared the opposite party no.2 as a juvenile. This petition is fit to be dismissed.
After hearing the learned counsel for both the parties and on perusal of the materials on the record, it appears that the contention of the learned counsel for opposite party no.2 is correct. The genuineness of the certificates of the opposite party no.2 has been challenged for the first time before this Court in this criminal revision. It appears from the impugned order that no objection regarding genuineness of the certificates submitted by the opposite party no.2 has been challenged before the Juvenile Justice Board. According to Section 49 read with Rule 22 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2003, the learned Juvenile Justice Board was not required to call for a report from the medical board.
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Considering the facts and circumstances stated above, I do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order. This petition is dismissed.
V.K. Pandey ( Amaresh Kumar Lal, J.)