Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) comprising Meyank Gupta Principal Magistrate, Nischint Pachnanda and Dr Chesthta Sharma on Tuesday directed Superintendent / Incharge Government Medical College Jammu to constitute a Medical Board comprising a Physiologist, a Dental Examiner and a Radiologist or Forensic Expert, of whom one shall be notified as the Chairperson, to determine the age of Juvenile in Conflict with Law (JCL) in Bus Stand grenade attack in which two persons were killed and 30 injured. The JJB gave the aforesaid direction while considering an application filed by the police. After hearing Chief Prosecuting Officer Parshant Mahajan with Prosecuting Officer Amir Beigh, the JJB directed that all the members of the aforesaid Medical Board shall give their individual finding on age, which shall then be forwarded to the Chairperson of the Board to give the final opinion on the age within a margin of one year. JJB further directed GMC to submit the report with the findings on age within 15 days. JJB after hearing CPO Parshant Mahajan in length observed that from the bare perusal of the above provision, it is amply clear that the Board shall decide the question of juvenility on the basis of physical appearance or the documents available. In the case in hand, the Board was made available with certain documents pertaining to the date of birth (DOB) of the JCL and on the basis of those documents prima facie the age of the JCL on the date of commission of alleged offences was 13 years approximately but from the physical appearance, the JCL appears to be more than 13 years of age. Accordingly, this Board directed the conduct of inquiry for the determination of age of the JCL and examined the parents of the JCL as well as the Principal of British Convent School, Yaripora, Kulgam with respect to the certificates issued regarding the date of birth of the JCL. The JJB after going through the documents placed on record pertaining to the DOB of the JCL as well as the statements of parents of JCL and the Principal British Convent School Yaripora, Kulgam observed that there is no foundational document as envisaged under Rule 74 sub rule (i) and (ii) either with the parents of the JCL nor with the Principal British Convent School Yaripora Kulgam on the basis of which the DOB of the JCL has been recorded by the school authorities. “Moreover, from the basis of physical appearance of the JCL, he doesn’t seems to be 13 years of age as has been shown on the documents placed on record”, the JJB observed adding that in absence of evidence to show on what basis the entry in the admission register of the school was made in the name of the JCL, a mere production of the record, though a public document, in terms of section 35 of Evidence Act was not sufficient to prove the age of the JCL and also is in agreement with the submission of CPO that in absence of any foundational document on the basis of which the DOB of the JCL has been recorded in the school, it is imperative for this Board to refer the alleged JCL to a duly constituted Medical Board so that the investigation in the present FIR / case can be brought to a logical conclusion.
