Age Recorded By JJ Board Or CWC Deemed To Beactual Age Of Accused

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Supreme Court has held that with the main goal of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, the age recorded by the Juvenile Justice Board or the Child Welfare Committee of the individual so brought before it will be considered to be the actual age of the individual.

DETAILS

In the current case, the victim of the crime had addressed the Supreme Court testing the revelation of the charged as a juvenile, contending that the registration testament can't be a decisive document for determining the age of the juvenile regardless of the other material disparities in the oral declaration of the observers or different reports being created.

Decision of the Bench

a) As per the Bench, while Section 94 of the Act raises an assumption in regards to the juvenility of the age, of the kid brought before the JJ board or the Committee, on the off chance that the Board or Committee has sensible grounds about them being a child or not, it can attempt the course of assurance as old enough by looking for evidence.

b) Thus, it was held by the reprimanded order that Sub-section 2 of Section 94 of the JJ Act, 2015 applies in the current case as there was no sensible ground to question the said document, and without a trace of there being any proof to discredit something similar, the criminal update was excused.

c) It was observed by a Bench consisting Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice BV Nagarathna while conveying the judgment in a request testing Allahabad High Courts plea maintaining the District and Sessions Courts and Juvenile Justice Boards decisions announcing the charged as an juvenile delinquent.

In instances of such cases, the Bench has likewise indicated the proof on which the Board can base its age assurance process:

1. A date of birth certificate from the school or a matriculation certificate from the concerned board, if accessible and in the absence of a trace of such a document.
2. A birth certificate issued by a municipal authority, a corporation or a panchayat, if the prior mentioned documents aren’t available.
3. Age should be decided upon by a solidification test or some other clinical age assurance test led on the committee’s or board’s orders.

QUESTIONS

• Do you agree with the final judgement of the Supreme Court for determining the actual age of the individual ?
• Should Juvenile Justice Board or CWC be entrusted with the sole authority to determine the age of individual ?

Share your views in the comments section below.