Allahabad High Court
Naresh vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others on 20 August, 2025
Author: Siddharth
Bench: Siddharth
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:142487 Reserved On:- 31.07.2025 Delivered On:- 20.08.2025 Case :- CRIMINAL REVISION No. - 1204 of 2025 Revisionist :- Naresh Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Revisionist :- Pawan Giri Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Pushpendra Singh Hon'ble Siddharth, J.
1. Heard Sri Pawan Giri, learned counsel for the revisionist; Sri Pushpendra Singh, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 and learned A.G.A for the State.
2. This criminal revision has been preferred against the impugned order 18.01.2025 passed by the Additional District and Session Judge / Additional POCSO Court, Bulandshahar in Criminal Appeal No. 127 of 2024 (Naresh vs. State of U.P. and another), filed under Section 101 of Juvenile Justice Act as well as impugned order dated 11.10.2024, passed by the Juvenile Justice Board, Bulandshahar in Misc. Case No. 247 of 2024 (State vs. Mukul Sharma), arising out of Case Crime No. 198 of 2022, under Sections- 34, 201, 302, 364 IPC, P.S.- Salempur, District- Bulandshahar.
3. The claim of juvenility was made by mother of opposite party no. 2 before the Juvenile Justice Board, Bulandshahar stating that on the date of incident dated 01.10.2022 her son was aged about 15 years, 2 months and 21 days since his date of birth is 10.07.2007. She appeared as C.W.-1 before the board and proved that opposite party no. 2 was born in 2007. He has passed intermediate examination. He studied in Chandrawati Devi, Rasoolpur, Teliya, Bulandshahar from class-6th to class-10th in Surajbhan Saraswati Vidhya Mandir, Inter College, Shikarpur, Bulandshahar. She stated that her husband went to get the opposite party no. 2 admitted in class-1st in the school.
4. C.W.-2, Clerk, from Surajbhan Saraswati Vidhya Mandir, Inter College, Shikarpur proved that opposite party no. 2 was admitted in his school in class-6th on 12.04.2016 and was earlier student in Chandrawati Devi Rasoolpur, Teliya, Bulandshahar, which issued transfer certificate of class-5th. He proved that the name of father and mother of opposite party no. 2 is correctly mentioned in the school.
5. Counsel for the informant has submitted that no witness was called to prove the transfer certificate issued by Chandrawati Devi Rasoolpur, Teliya, Bulandshahar which was required to be proved since it was the basis of the further studies of the opposite party no. 2 from class-6th to class-11th. C.W.-2 stated that Chandrawati Devi, Rasoolpur, Teliya, Bulandshahar which is now closed and therefore no documents can be produced from the aforesaid schools.
6. After hearing the rival submissions, this Court finds that there is no reliable evidence on record from the Education Department to establish that Chandrawati Devi, Rasooplur, Teliya, District Bulandshahar has been closed. Only the death certificate of the Headmaster of the said school was filed before the Board, on the basis of which the Board presumed that the said school stood closed. Relying upon such presumption and the Division Bench judgment, the Board held that the opposite party no. 2, having studied from Class-6th to Class-11th in Surajbhan Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College, Shikarpur, was a juvenile. The order of the Juvenile Justice Board is clearly erroneous. The Appellate Court has committed the same error as the Board. Both the orders cannot be sustained and are hereby set aside.
7. The Juvenile Justice Board is directed to grant an opportunity to the parties to adduce evidence to establish whether Chandrawati Devi, Rasooplur, Teliya, District Bulandshahar has in fact been closed and whether its records have been destroyed. Opposite party no. 2 shall also be given an opportunity to prove his correct date of birth or any other relevant evidence in his possession as per the requirement of Section 94(ii) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
8. The revision is accordingly, allowed.
9. The Juvenile Justice Board, Bulandshahar, shall re-determine the age of opposite party no. 2 after affording full opportunity of hearing and leading of evidence to the parties, within a period of three months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.
Order Date :- 20.08.2025 Rohit