ABDUL QAYOOM GANI Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge in this criminal revision petition is to the order dated 27.09.2011 passed by learned Judge, Special Court, Jalandhar, whereby the application moved by the petitioner Abdul Qayoom Gani for declaring him Juvenile and sending his case to the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Jalandhar, for trial/inquiry, was rejected. Brief facts of the case are that on 01.01.2010, the Station House Officer of Police Station, Phillaur, received a secret information that Shinder Pal, Mustaq Ahmed Bhatt, Abdul Qayoom Gani and Paramjit alias Pappu were carrying poppy husk in a truck. They had a Santro car also which was moving ahead of the said truck. The said persons had to go to village Samgari Atta through village Tabla to supply poppy husk. If the barrier was held then they could be apprehended along with contraband and the vehicles. The police party was formed and reached at bridge at Tehang where one more police party joined the Station House Officer. At around 6.15 A.M., a Santro car and a truck were seen coming and on coming nearer were signaled to stop. The person driving the car was apprehended and he disclosed his name as Paramjit Singh alias Pappu while the person driving the truck disclosed his identity as Shinder Pal. The other persons in the vehicles were Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatt and Abdul Qayoom Gani. After completing the formalities, the truck was searched and 27 bags of poppy husk and 50 bags of poppy plant were found. Samples were drawn and after completing all the formalities the accused were arrested and investigation was conducted. After completion of the investigation, report under Section 173, Cr.P.C. was presented for prosecution of the above said persons.

(2.) The charges were framed and the case was posted for prosecution evidence. The petitioner claiming himself to be a juvenile, moved an application to send his case to the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board for inquiry/trial in terms of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The said application was rejected and hence the present criminal revision.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that date of birth of the petitioner is 07.07.1992. He further contends that the alleged contraband was recovered on 01.01.2010, therefore, on the date of alleged occurrence, the petitioner was 17 years and 6 months old and as such was a juvenile. He further contends that in order to substantiate his claim the petitioner examined his father Basher Ahmed (AW-2), who deposed that his son, Abdul Qayoom Gani, was born on 07.07.1992. AW-2 also produced the birth certificate (Ex. AW1/6). AW-1 Jalani Ahmad was the Chowkidar of the village of the petitioner. He had brought the birth record from the year 1991 to 1997 and as per that record, there was entry of the date of birth of Abdul Qayoom, who was shown to have born on 07.07.1992. Learned counsel further submits that the petitioner was put to ossification test and according to such report, the age of the petitioner was 20 to 24 years. He further submits that under Rule 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as "the Rules"), medical opinion from the duly constituted Medical Board should be sought only when the matriculation certificate or the school certificate or any birth certificate issued by a Corporation or a Panchayat or a Municipality is not available. In support of his contention, he has placed reliance on Snah Nawaz v. State of U.P. and another., 2011 3 RCR(Cri) 884; and Hari Ram v. State of Rajasthan & Anr., 2009 2 RCR(Cri) 878. On the strength of the above, he prays that by setting aside the impugned order, present criminal revision may be accepted and the petitioner be declared as a juvenile.