S.S.GREWAL,J - (1.) THIS petition relates to quashment of the order of Children Court, dated August 1, 1989 and that of the Appellate Court dated September 29, 1989, whereby Sat Pal petitioner has been held to be over 16 years of age it the time of commission of double murder on July 1988, in which he is said to be one of the accused.
(2.) THE main grievance of the counsel for the petitioner is that both the Courts below erred in law in relying upon the entry of the Chowkidara register in determining that the age of the petitioner was over 16 years. It was submitted that the aforesaid entry has been made by an illiterate Chowkidar and has been proved by his son who is also an illiterate person and in view of the authority of apex Court in Brij Mohan Singh v. Priya Brat Narain Sinha and others, AIR 1965 SC 282, the said entry is inadmissible in evidence and cannot be relied upon to determine the age of Sat Pat Petitioner. This contention has great merit and in view of the authority of the apex Court, referred to above, the entry in the Chowkidara register cannot be legally relied upon to determine the age of the present petitioner. However, the fact remains that there is other ample evidence on the record which would indicate that the petitioner was over 16 years of age at the time of the commission of the offence on 3rd July 1988. Perusal of the testimony of Hanuman father of the present petitioner reveals that Sat Pal petitioner was his third child and Udai Pal his son was born after about bout three years of the birth of Sat Pal. He also admitted that the dates of birth of Udai Pal and Vijay Pal are 10th February, 1973 and 10th August, 1975 respectively. He has however, tried to furnish explanation that their age we re given on excessive side in order to get them admitted in the school. This is hardly a plausible explanation. Besides, there is no mention in the explanation furnished by Hanuman father of the petitioner about the excessive age given by him in respect of Udai Pal and Vijay Pal. It is also significant to note that while applying for bail before the Children Court the date of birth of Udai Pal was mentioned as 10th February, 1973. Thus for all intents and purposes it can be safely held that Sat Pal the present petitioner was born somewhere in February, 1970. He was certainly over 16 years age at the time of the commission of the offence of the double murder in which he is now facing trial. The impugned order passed by the Children Court or the Appellate Court do not suffer from any illegal infirmity, and, this petition is accordingly dismissed. Petition dismissed.;