JUDGMENT

Rastogi, J.

1. The appellant(accused no. 1) along with three others tried for an offence under Sections 147, 148, 302/149 and 323/149 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter being referred to as “IPC”). The appellant and one Vikas Kirola were convicted under Section 304 Part II/34 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and other two persons Manoj Singh Rautela and Deepak Pathak were acquitted vide judgment dated 12th January, 1998.

2. Both the unsuccessful convicted persons preferred criminal appeal against the judgment dated 12th January, 1998 before the High Court of Uttarakhand. In the case of appellant, the High Court observed that according to his marksheet of Secondary School Certificate Examination 1993, his date of birth is 13th June, 1977 while the incident was of 18th June, 1995 and he was not a juvenile on the date of the incident. At the same time, Vikas Kirola, whose date of birth was 26th December, 1977 on the basis of his secondary school certificate was given the benefit of Juvenile in view of Section 2(k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and their conviction under Section 304 Part II/34 IPC came to be