State of J & K vs Siraj-ud-din

The age of the accused can have a material difference in the matter of trail of a criminal case. In Case a boy has not attained the age of 16 years

or a girl has not attained the age of 18 years then, the provisions of Jammu & Kashmir Juvenile Justice Act, 1997, (hereinafter referred to as the

Act) would be attracted. This act would apply to a person who is covered by the definition of term ""Juvenile"" under Section 2(h) of the Act, For

facility of reference this Section is being reproduced below:

Juvenile"" means a boy who not attained the age of sixteen yeas or a girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years;

With a view to determine as to whether a person is a Juvenile or not, an' enquiry has to be conducted in terms of Section 3 of the Act. The

procedure which is required to be followed in the case a delinquent juvenile is indicated in Chapter IV of the Act. In the present age, offences have

been committed under Section 121, 121A of the Penal Code read with Section 7/25 of the Arms Act. The offence is said to have been committed

on 10th September 98. A plea was taken that respondent Sirajuddin is a juvenile and fie should be dealt with in accordance with the

aforementioned provisions. It was this issue which was examined and gone into by the Additional Sessions Judge, Doda,. He has recorded

following findings:i. That the date of birth of the respondent is recorded in the Chowkidar register as 11th November 80. The village Chowkidar

appeared in respect of this, ii. That in the school leaving certificate the date of birth of respondent is recorded as 4th March 83.

It was observed that the school leaving certificate, if taken note of, then the respondent would be a juvenile and if the record maintained by the

Chowkidar is taken note of, then he would not.

The court below has come to the conclusion that the record maintained by the village Chowkidar cannot be relied upon. This conclusion was

arrived at on account of the fact that the entry was not made by the village Chowkidar himself. It was in this way, reliance was placed on the

school records. In doing so, the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Financial Code Volume I and Jammu and Kashmir Civil Service Regulations

were taken note of. The aforementioned provisions deal with a situation where someone seeks service with the State and the question arises as to

whether school certificates are to be relied upon or not. Taking note of these rules, the court below, as indicated above, has come to the

conclusion that the school record can be given preference.

I am of the opinion that either the school registers or the opinion given by the doctor was of some relevance. So, far as school registers are

concerned, these are the documents which can be treated as public documents and reliance can be placed on them. The fact that the entries in the

school register can be relied upon and have some evidential value is supported by judicial view. See AIR 1981 SC 361, Harpal Singh and another

v. State of Himachal Pradesh. See also AIR 1964 SC 1625, Mohd Ikram Hussain v. State of UP. As a matter of fact in 1984 Cri. L J. 1081,

Shanmugham v. The State, it was observed that where the school registers contains the names in an unambiguous terms, these can be relied upon.

Another decision on the same subject is reported as AIR 1988 SC 1796, Birad Mai Singhvi v. Anand Purohit. See also AIR 1993 SC 2448.

Jagtar Singh v. State of Punjab.

In view of the above, I do not find any merit in this Revision petition, preferred by the State and the same is dismissed. The State would take

notice of the Act and proceed further in accordance with the law.