Delhi High Court - Orders
Shabana vs Govt Of Nct Of Delhi And Ors on 9 July, 2024
Author: Prathiba M. Singh
Bench: Prathiba M. Singh, Amit Sharma
$~17
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(CRL) 1599/2024
SHABANA .....Petitioner
Through: Ms. Fozia Rehman, Advocate (through
Vc).
versus
GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI AND ORS. .....Respondents
Through: Mr. Sanjay Lao, Standing Counsel
(Crl.) for State with Ms. Priyam
Agarwal and Mr. Abhinav Kumar
Arya, Advocates.
SI Kamlesh, P.S. Bawana.
Mr. Sushil Raaja, SPC-UOI for
UIDAI.
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUSTICE AMIT SHARMA
ORDER
% 09.07.2024
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
2. This is a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the CrPC. The Petitioner vide the present petition is praying for issuance of a writ of Habeas Corpus. Vide the present petition, the Petitioner is also seeking a direction to the Respondents herein, to carry out investigation and produce the daughter of the Petitioner, Ms. X., who is stated to be a minor.
3. On 1st July, 2024, the girl, Ms. X was produced before the Court and the Court had interacted with the girl as also the petitioner, i.e., mother of the This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 10/07/2024 at 23:54:23 girl. On the said date, it was recorded that the date of birth of the girl, Ms. X is not clear. Subsequently, the original Aadhar Card of the girl was produced by the mother which records her date of birth as 1st January, 2006. However, it was observed by the Court that there are two dates of birth mentioned in the documents produced for the girl, Ms. X. The first date of birth is 4th May, 2007 and the other is 1st January, 2006. Consequently, the Court had directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (hereinafter, 'UIDAI') to conduct an enquiry as to when the said Aadhar Card was issued to Ms. X. The relevant portion of the order dated 1st July, 2024 is as under:
"9. As per the status report dated 2nd April, 2024 filed by the learned Standing Counsel, the leaving certificate dated 11.04.2018 shows that the date of birth of Ms. X is 4th May, 2007. However, the basis of the said date of birth is not clear. There is no clarity as to whether there is any birth certificate of the girl/Ms.X. The said date of birth is only based on the admission register of the school that the girl was going to. The Status Report is also accompanied by the statement of the principal recorded by the Investigating Officer in which it has been stated that the said certificate is based on the admission register of the students maintained by the school.
10. The original Aadhar Card was produced by the mother today. The same reveals that Ms. X also has an Aadhar Card which shows her date of birth as 1st January, 2006. On a pointed query from the Petitioner as to when this Adhar Card was made, she stated that the same was made in Bareilly itself several years ago when her daughter was quite young.
11. In the present case, it is observed that there are two dates of birth mentioned in the documents produced for the girl/Ms. X. One date of birth is 4th May, 2007 and the other as 1st January, 2006. Considering that there are two dates of birth of the girl, it is directed that the Investigating Officer (hereinafter 'IO') may enquire from the school This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 10/07/2024 at 23:54:23 principal as to whether there is any document which can be the basis of verifying the date of birth, such as a birth certificate.
12. It is directed that an inquiry be also made from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as to when the said Aadhar Card was issued to Ms. X.
13. Further, it is directed that Ms. X be produced before the Child Welfare Committee today itself so that proper orders can be passed. It shall be ensured that since the girl is pregnant, proper medical care is also given to her."
4. The matter was then listed today for the status report which has now been filed. The said report shows that the girl was produced before the Child Welfare Committee wherein the girl has expressed her wish to continue with her pregnancy. She also stated that she went to Bihar with her male friend and wants to stay with him. Further, she does not want to go with her mother who has also refused to take the girl. The girl has now been housed in CHG-IV, Nirmal Chhaya Complex, Delhi, in terms of the directions passed by the Child Welfare Committee.
5. Insofar as the verification of the Aadhar card of the girl is concerned, the report states that the said verification is still pending. However, the Principal of Govt. Primary School, Ghair Nagar Aola Distt. Barielly, Uttar Pradesh has stated that except the school leaving certificate, there is no other document on record to establish the date of birth of the girl.
6. Mr. Sushil Raaja, SPC-UOI for UIDAI, is present in Court. In view of the fact that determination of age of the girl would be relevant for the present writ petition, the SPC for UIDAI shall verify the Aadhar Card of the girl and file a report with regard to the same, only for the purposes of use in these proceedings.
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 10/07/2024 at 23:54:23
7. Re-notify on 22nd July, 2024.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.
AMIT SHARMA, J.
JULY 9, 2024 bsr/NS This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 10/07/2024 at 23:54:23