- (1.) This is a Criminal Revision filed under S.397 Cr. P.C.against the order dated 6-1-96 passed by the 1st Addl. Sessions Judge. Meerut, whereby he has ordered that the accused Fanu @ Irfan be tried in the regular court.
(2.) In this case, an incident of rape took place on 22-10-94 at P.S.Bhagwanpur, Distt. Hardwar. The accused Fanu @ Irfan was named as principal culprit. The victim was a girl of 8 years.
(3.) Before the learned Magistrate concerned. the accused took the plea that he was a "juvenile" and his case should be heard by the Juvenile Court only. and not by a court of regular jurisdiction. Before the learned Magistrate, reliance was placed on a School Leaving Certificate, paper on 9/3, wherein the date of birth of the applicant was recorded as 20-1-81. According to this certificate, the age of the applicant on the date of occurrence was about 13 years. That certificate was proved by Sri Shakeel Hasan. Not only this, the opinion of the Chief Medical Officer, Hardwar was obtained, who opined that the age of the boy was about 15 years on 16-1-95. Therefore, decidedly on the date of occurrence, the accused was below 16 years of age. As against it, the prosecution relied upon a Pariwar Register and personal opinion of the learned Magistrate, that the accused appeared to be more than 16 years of age. 3A.The word "Juvenile" has been defined in Section 2, sub-clause (h) of Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 as follows:- "Juvenile means a boy who has not attained the age of 16 years or a girl, who has not attained the age of 18 years." Therefore, decidedly the accused was a "Juvenile" on the date of occurrence.;