The determination of juvenile status under the Juvenile Justice Act is based on the provisions of Rule 22(5) of the Rules, which prioritize the school leaving certificate for age determination.

Heard the learned counsel for the revisionist and Shri Umesh Verma for the opposite party, the State of U. P.

2. Kuldeep Singh, the revisionist has challenged the legality of the order dated 21-5-2004 passed by the Special Judge (Gangsters Act), Faizabad on the application of the revisionist to declare him juvenile under Juvenile Justice Act.

3. The learned trial Court after taking into consideration, a document on the record has rejected the prayer of the revisionist and has refused to declare him as juvenile.

4. A perusal of the impugned order goes to show that there was a school leaving certificate of the applicant before the learned Sessions Judge showing the date of birth and according to that date of birth, he was juvenile on the date of the commission of the crime. The learned Sessions Judge has not decided the question of the applicant being juvenile in accordance with the provisions of Rule 22 (5) of the Rules made under Juvenile Justice Act in which it is provided that the age of the a child or juvenile shall be determined on the basis of the birth certificate issued by the local bodies or the date of birth shown in the certificate from the school first attended or matriculation or equivalent certificates if available.

5. In this case, the applicant has filed the copy of the school leaving certificate so the age of the applicant is to be determined as per date of birth given in the school leaving certificate after ignoring any other evidence. The learned Sessions Judge had refused to consider this school leaving certificate on

the ground which are not substantiated by law. Therefore, the impugned order is set aside and revisionist Kuldeep Singh is declared juvenile for the purpose of his trial in case crime No. 717 of 2003, under Sections 147/148/149/ 307/504/506/302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 (1) of U. P. Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act of Police Station Gosainganj, District Sultanpur.

6. In view of the above the revision is allowed and impugned order so far as it relates to revisionist Kuldeep Singh, is set aside.

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