Thoudam Michael Singh vs State of Manipur, Crl. Rev. P. No 8 of 2023 

FACTS OF THE CASE

In the discussed case, Thoudan Michael Singh (the petitioner) was accused of offence u/s 354-A/376 of IPC and Section 8 of POCSO Act,2012 of sexually assaulting a minor girl. The case was transferred to the court of Fast Track Special Court No.1 for trial.

The petitioner filed an application under section 9 of the JJ Act,2015 for remitting the trial to Juvenile Justice Board, as he was minor at the time of alleged commission of the offence dated 05.04.2013. In support of his application the petitioner/accused filed the following documents;

1. Copy of reading certificate issued by the Principal of the Little Master English Higher Secondary School, Samurou
2. Copy of provisional certificate of Thoudan Sobita Devi, elder sister of the accused issued by the headmaster for passing high school examination in the year 2011
3. and copy of admit card of his elder sister.

The learned FTSC No.1 rejected the reading certificate issued by the school as it was not on the basis of the date of birth. In absence of documentary proof of age, the Court ordered for a medical legal examination of the accused u/s 94 of the JJ Act,2015 for determination of the age of the petitioner, which was conducted on 17.08.2022. However, the age determination medical report of the accused turned out to be inconclusive. The Court considering all the information available on record and especially the fact that the petitioner/accused was a married man with children at the time of the incident, passed an order dated 31.03.2023 holding that the petitioner was not below the age of 18 years at the time of the incident. It is this order which has been challenged before the HC of Manipur in the present instance.

ISSUES

When the court does not accept three documents mentioned in Section 94 of the JJ Act,2015, what will be the procedure to be adopted by the Court in such situation?

ARGUMENTS 

The counsel for the petitioner argued the following;

(i) The Trial Court erred in rejecting the reading certificate in which the date of birth was mentioned was 01.02.1996.

(ii) According to the medical examination report, the upper age limit of the petitioner would be 24 years 8 Months on the date of the examination which translated into the age of the petitioner on the date of the incident to be 16+ years but less than 18 years.

(iii) The Trial Court failed to appreciate Ext.P-3 ie.; the High school certificate of his elder sister who was 2 years older than the petitioner.

Respondent’s arguments:

The learned PP submitted that there is no manifest error in the impugned order of the learned Trial Court as the same has been passed after considering all the materials on record.

JUDGEMENT

The learned High Court referred to the leading case of Rishipal Singh Solanki v. State of UP (2022) 8 SCC 602 where the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has held that determination of age of a person has to be made on the basis of the materials on record and appreciation of evidence adduced by the parties. Also, a hyper technical approach should not be adopted when evidence is adduced on behalf of the accused in support of the plea that he was a juvenile.

Further the Court held that in the present case, the trial court did not consider the undisputed Ext.P-3 (Admit card for appearing in Matriculation), the immediate elder sister of the petitioner who was 18+ years at the time of the incident and there is a gap of 2 years between the petitioner and his immediate elder sister.

In the light of above discussed ratio the Court was of the opinion that non-consideration of the Ext.P-3 is fatal and the same cannot be overridden by the factum of marriage of the petitioner. Accordingly, it was held that the petitioner was 16+ years old on the date of occurrence, ie, 05.04.2013 and hence was juvenile on the relevant date. The impugned order was set aside and the case was transmitted to the Juvenile Justice Board.

REFERENCES

https://www.manupatrafast.in/Pers/Personalized.aspx

This article is written by Aleema of Delhi university of Law, Intern at Legal Vidhiya

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