IMPORTANT POINTS
Same standard of proving the document has to be applied in both civil and criminal proceedings.
Birth certificate from the school record has priority over medical report.

Judgment :-

S.B. Sinha, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Respondent no.1 is facing trial in Nava Nagar P.S. Case No.102 of 2003 on the charge of committing murder of one Tribhuvan Singh. Appellant before us is the uncle of the deceased.

3. Before the learned trial Judge, a plea was raised by him that he was a juvenile. In support of the said plea, entries in the admission register/certificate in the Government Secondary School, Navanagar, Buxar, in which he took admission on 22nd January 1996 and studied up to 31st December 1999, were produced. The said certificate was issued on 23rd February 2000, the relevant portion whereof reads as under :

"1. Name of Student : Prabhat Ranjan

2. Fathers/Guardians Name: Shri Rajkishor Singh

3. Permanent Address : Vill-Amir Pur, Post Navanagar Distt-Buxar (Bihar)

4. Date of first admission in the school : 22.01.1996

7. Date of Birth in Admission Register (in number and : 10.02.1987 Words) : Tenth February Eighty Seven

8. Date of Leaving the School: 31.12.1999

9. At the time of leaving School studying in which Class : 8th"

XXX XXX XXX

4. The said admission register/certificate, thus, shows that the date of birth of the accused is 10.02.1987.

5. A xerox copy of another certificate dated 12.11.2003 was also brought on record which was issued by the Principal, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav High School. The said certificate also shows the date of birth of the first respondent to be 10.02.1987. It was proved by a teacher of the said school, Shri Raj Kumar who examined himself as PW -2 as also by the father of the accused, namely, Raj Kishore Singh.

6. The learned Magistrate, however, appointed a Medical Board. The Medical Board, in its report dated 10th February 2005, inter alia, upon taking ossification test, estimated his age to be within 20 to 22 years. By an order dated 03rd August 2005, the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Patna held that on the date of occurrence, i.e., 10th September 2003, the age of the respondent no.1 was more than 20 years stating :

"Considering the evidence on record, there is only evidence which is the Report of the Medical Board. The statement of the father of the accused and the teacher of the school supported with the certificate which are not conclusive and sufficient under rules of Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Rules, 2001. Accordingly, on the basis of the report of the Medical Board and on physical appearance of the accused and conclusion arrived at that this accused is not Juvenile at this stage nor at the time of alleged commission of offence. Accordingly, this case record is remitted back to the court concerned for disposal in accordance with law."

7. Respondent no.1 filed a revision application thereagainst before the High Court of Patna which, by reason of the impugned order dated 17th May 2006, was allowd by a

learned Single Judge, holding :

"Considering the submission made by the parties and the decision relied on by them, find that the evidence which was produced by the petitioner before the Juvenile Justice Court were sufficient for determination of his age. The certificate granted by the Headmaster by Ram Lakhan Singh High School stating the date of birth of the petitioner as 10.02.1987 was issued on 23.02.2000 and the date of occurrence is 10.09.2003, much after issuance of certificate by the headmaster of Ram Lakhan Singh High School where the date of birth of the petitioner has been mentioned as 10.02.1987. In support of the age, the admission register of the school was also produced wherein the petitioners name has been mentioned in Sl.No.134. There also the date of birth of the petitioner has been mentioned as 10.02.1987 and the date of issuance of school leaving certificate is mentioned as 23.02.2000. There is no reason for doubting or suspecting the genuineness of these two documents. In the impugned order also no reason has been assigned for disbelieving the transfer certificate and the photo copy of the certificate issued from Ram Lakhan Si