Delhi District Court
State vs Hetas @ Happy & Anr. on 24 May, 2014
IN THE COURT OF SHRI DEEPAK GARG: ADDITIONAL SESSIONS
JUDGE: NORTH -01: ROHINI COURTS: DELHI.
S.C. NO.57/13.
FIR NO.66/10.
STATE VS HETAS @ HAPPY & ANR.
U/S.376/366/363/323/302/201/506/511/34 IPC.
ORDER
1. Vide this order, I will decide an application under Section 7-A of Juvenile Justice Act, moved on behalf of accused Hetas @ Happy for declaring him a juvenile.
2. Applicant/accused Hetas @ happy and his co-accused Sunil Sehrawat are facing trial for the offence u/s. 363/366/376(2)
(g)/506/304/201/34 IPC and alternatively u/s. 302/201/34 IPC. As per the case of the prosecution they kidnapped the prosecutrix from the lawful guardianship of her parents with intent that she may be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse and thereafter they committed gang rape upon her and thereafter drover the vehicle in which they committed the offence, into a ditch in an attempt to finish her, which ultimately resulted in her death.
3. It is relevant here to state that court had already examined about 21 witnesses when the present application was moved by the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy.
4. During the course of age inquiry of the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy the court examined certain witnesses.
5. While going through the judicial record, this Court noticed that successive bail applications were moved on behalf of page 1 of page 8 applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy by his previous counsel Shri Pradeep Rana, Advocate before the court of ld. MM (when this case was not committed to the court of Sessions) on the ground that he is a young boy and photocopy of his secondary school certificate and copy of his identity card were also filed alongwith the said applications. As per the said certificates accused Hetas @ Happy cleared his Secondary School Examination in the year 2006 from National Institute of Open School and his date of birth is mentioned in the said certificate as 05.06.1991.
6. IO/SI Narender of the case was directed to verify the said Secondary School Certificate and said identity card which were attached with the bail application of the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy. Inspector Rajender Prasad, SHO, PS - Bawana was directed to supervise the inquiry about the said documents and file his report, who eventually filed his report dated 25.02.2014 mentioning that the said documents i.e. the Secondary School Examination Certificate of accused Hetas @ Happy issued by National Institute of Open Schooling and the copy of the identity card were found to be genuine. As per the said documents, his date of birth is 05.06.1991. He recorded the statement of Mr. P.M. Pankaj, Assistant Director, National Institute of Open Schooling in respect of the said record.
7. Mr. P.M. Pankaj, Assistant Director, National Institute of Open Schooling, Government of India has been examined in this inquiry as CW4 wherein he has deposed that the candidate Hetas Thakran S/o. Shri Harbir Singh was admitted in the year 2005 in their study centre (i.e. K.D. Model School, Bawana Road, Barwala, Delhi - 110029, having Code number 270307) and he passed Secondary School Examination in October 2006 from regional page 2 of page 8 centre, Delhi of National School of Open Schooling. He further deposed that as per their record date of birth of Hetas is 05.06.1991. He proved the letter dated 21.02.2014 issued to SI Narender, PS - Bawana in this respect which is exhibited as Ex.CW4/1. This witness has deposed about the roll number issued to Hetas Thakran and other particulars in regard to his admission and clearing the said examination. He filed his report in the court, which is Ex.CW4/4 (collectively running into 10 pages).
8. Shri Hari Sharan, Clerk, K.D. Model Secondary School, Bawana Road, Barwala, Delhi, has been examined as CW5 in this inquiry. He brought the enrollment register in respect of the children admitted in that school. As per the said register Hetas Thakran S/o. Shri Harbir Singh, R/o. 440, Bajeetpur, Delhi, i.e. applicant/accused had taken admission in National Institute of Open Schooling through the said K.D. Model Secondary School, vide AI Number 270307 during the Session 2005-06 under the enrollment number 27030752218 & his date of birth is mentioned in the record as 05.06.1991. This witness further deposed that they have forwarded all the documents produced at the time of the admission by the candidate to National Institute of Open Schooling. He has proved the copy of his Enrollment Register as Ex.CW5/A. He also brought a letter issued under the signatures of Vice Principal of the said school mentioning about the particulars of the admission of Hetas Thakran in National Institute of Open Schooling through their school and verified the date of birth of the Hetas @ Happy as 05.06.1991. This letter has been proved as Ex.CW5/D.
9. Both the said witnesses i.e. Mr. P.M. Pankaj (CW4) and Mr. Hari Sharan (PW5) have been cross examined by ld. Counsel for the page 3 of page 8 applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy, but nothing has come in their cross examination to doubt about the veracity of their testimony.
10. Alongwith the application of the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy for claiming juvenility, copy of the date of birth certificate issued by MCD and a certificate issued by Happy Model School, Village - Anandpur Jharot, District - Sonepat, Haryana were filed.
11. The court summoned Head Mistress of Happy Model School, Village - Anandpur Jharot, District - Sonepat, Haryana and in pursuance of the same, Ms. Mona Rani, Head Mistress Happy Model School, Village - Anandpur Jharot, District - Sonepat, Haryana appeared, who was examined as CW3. She brought the School Admission and Withdrawal Register of the children admitted in the said school and she deposed that as per the record/register there was no entry with regard to the admission of Hetas @ Happy S/o. Shri Harbir Singh in the said school from the year 2001 to 2003. She was shown the certificate produced by applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy (which was marked as Ex.CW3/A for the purpose of identification), but she deposed that the same is forged document. As per Ex.CW3/A, Hetas @ Happy had taken admission in the said school vide serial number 414 on dated 01.04.2002. However, this witness deposed that as per the register vide serial number 414, one Poonam, D/o. Shri Devender Singh had taken admission. A copy of the said entry has been proved as Ex.CW3/B.
12. As stated above, applicant/accused alongwith its application filed a copy of the birth certificate issued by Municipal Corporation of Delhi, showing his date of birth as 05.06.1992. This certificate is dated 26.07.2013. The court summoned the original record in page 4 of page 8 respect of the said document. Shri Animesh, Assistant Public Health Inspector, who has been examined as CW1 brought the original record in respect of the said entry and he deposed that there is no entry with Registration number 704 as mentioned in the certificate relied upon by the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy and hence, the said entry might be fake. He further stated that there are two entries at serial number 303 and 304 with similar name and parentage, which were allegedly entered in the register on 31.12.1992.
13. Since there was discrepancy in the record, the Court directed to higher official to conduct appropriate inquiry into the matter and file the report. Shri Satish Kumar, Assistant Public Health Inspector (CW2) has deposed that inadvertently Registration No. 704 had been mentioned on Ex.CW2/A. He further deposed that entry at serial number 304 relates to Hetas Thakran S/o. Smt. Sunil and Shri Harbir Singh, Village - Nangal Thakran, bearing his date of birth as 05.06.1992. He further deposed that the entry at serial number 303 in the Birth Register has under the name of Hetas at village Bajeetpur having mother's name Smt. Sunil (wrongly mentioned as Sunil whereas the record mentioned her name as Smt. Sunita) and father's name as Shri Harbir Singh.
14. I have heard ld. Counsel for the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy and ld. Addl. PP for the State and also I have carefully perused the record.
15. As stated above, at the time of filing the present application for claiming juvenility, applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy relied upon two records i.e. the record of Happy Model School, Village - Anandpur Jharot, District - Sonepat, Haryana and the date of birth page 5 of page 8 certificate issued by Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Ms. Mona Rani, Head Mistress of Happy Model School (CW3) had proved that certificate relied by the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy Ex.CW3/A is forged and fabricated document and he never took admission in the said school as alleged. Hence, the record furnished by the applicant/accused in respect of the said school has been found to be forged. Further the date of birth certificate furnished by him allegedly issued by the MCD is also highly doubtful. As stated above, the original register of the year 1992 was brought by the official concerned and it is admitted by them that there is no registration number 704 in their record is allegedly mentioned in the certificate Ex.CW2/A relied upon by the applicant/accused. There are two entries at serial number 303 and 304 with almost the same name and parentage except that the name of the mother is different in both the entries. It is relevant here to state that the family of the applicant/accused obtained this birth certificate on 26.07.2013 for the first time i.e. during the pendency of the present case. If the entry regarding the birth of Hetas @ Happy was made in the register in the year 1992 itself, there is no reason why his family would not obtain the copy of the same immediately thereafter or as soon as possible and it is improbable that they would obtain the copy of the birth certificate for the first time after about 20 years and that too when the applicant/accused started facing a criminal trial. The date of birth mentioned in the certificate is 05.06.1992 which if considered as correct would make him juvenile on the date of commission of offence. This date is not in accordance with the date mentioned on his Secondary School Certificate issued by National Institute of Open Schooling and the record of K.D. Secondary School in which he had studied. Further the entries in the MCD register is alleged page 6 of page 8 to have been made on the last date of that year i.e. 1992. It is very convenient that unscrupulous element to make forged entry in the MCD register to obtain undue advantages. It is admitted by the witness, who brought the record of MCD that they did not take any application from the person on whose behalf the said entries i.e. entry number 303 & 304 were made in the register of the year 1992. The report submitted by the SHO also supports this view that these entries in the MCD record are forged. The MCD register of birth of 1992 shows an alarming situation. After the last entry of of that particular year, the officials do not put an end mark so that, no subsequent entry/forged entries can be made. It is possible that with collusion of the staff, an entry can be made in the register of the year 1992, even today showing the entry on the last date of that year i.e. 31.12.1992. Although, the subsequent record is stated to have been computerized by the MCD. But this forgery is very much possible in the record of the previous years.
16. It has been proved that applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy passed his Secondary School Examination in 2006 from National Institute of Open Schooling under the certificate Ex.CW4/2, which has been proved by Assistant Director, National Institute of Open Schooling, who was examined as CW4 in the inquiry. Further, the record of K.D. Model Secondary School, Bawana Road, Barwala, Delhi also corroborates the fact that the date of birth of the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy is 05.06.1991, which has been verified by the Vice Principal of the said school and the certificate has been proved as Ex.CW5/B.
17. In view of above, it is held that the age of the applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy has been proved as 05.06.1991. The date of the commission of offence is 19.03.2010. If we take the date of birth of page 7 of page 8 the applicant/ accused as 05.06.1991 and calculate his age on the date of commission of offence it comes to be more than 18 years. Hence, applicant/accused Hetas @ Happy was more than 18 years of age on the date of commission of offence.
18. In view of above, there is no merit in the present application and same is dismissed accordingly.
Announced in the open court (DEEPAK GARG)
On 24.05.2014 ADDITIONAL SESSION JUDGE:
ROHINI COURTS: DELHI.
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