SANJEEV KUMAR GUPTA Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad allowed a claim of juvenility in a decision of its Single Judge dated 14 Nov. 2018. The judgment is challenged in this appeal (Criminal Revision 2952 of 2017) by the complainant.

(2.) On 28 Oct. 2015, a First Information Report was lodged by the appellant at PS Ekka in the district of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh which was registered as Case Crime 252 of 2016 under Sec. 364 A of the Penal Code. The allegation is that the appellant received a call on his cell phone from an unknown number and the caller wished to speak to his son, claiming to be his teacher. The appellant's son who was about thirteen years old was studying in the eighth standard in a public school in Shikohabad. After calling back on the number, the appellant's son left his shop after a conversation, never to return. The victim is alleged to have been murdered after a demand for ransom. His body was allegedly found in a canal. The second respondent was arrested during the course of the investigation.

(3.) On 9 Dec. 2015, the accused filed an application claiming to be a juvenile on the date of the incident under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 (Act of 2000) . He submitted that on the date of the alleged offence he was sixteen years ten months and eleven days old. In support of the claim, he relied on a matriculation certificate issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) , Delhi reflecting his date of birth as 17 Dec. 1998.