SAMEER LAKRA Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State.

(2.) PETITIONER is aggrieved by the order dated 3.2.2014 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Gumla, in S.T. No.241 of 2011, whereby the application filed by the petitioner to declare him juvenile was rejected by the Court below.

(3.) PRIOR to this order, the claim of the petitioner was rejected by the Trial Court below earlier also, against which the petitioner had filed Cr. Revision No.312 of 2013, which was allowed by order dated 10.5.2013, in view of the fact that this Court found that the Court below had not followed the procedure prescribed under Rule 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007, for determining the age of the petitioner, which was required to be done. By the said order dated 10.5.2013, the Court below was directed to take step for determining the age of the petitioner in accordance with the procedures prescribed under the said Rules. Thereafter by order dated 3.2.2014, the application of the petitioner to declare him juvenile was again rejected by the Court below, stating that the petitioner had claimed the plea of juvenility on the basis of the date of birth certificate from the school first attended, but the Court below, for the reasons detailed in the impugned order, has not placed reliance upon the said certificate stating that the same was not validly proved and accordingly, rejected the application filed by the petitioner.