India News | SC Suspicious over Identical Signatures of Murder Accused at Age of 4, 12 Years; Stays JJB Order
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. In a curious case, the Supreme Court has got iffy over identical signatures of an accused at the age of four and 12 years in the school records and decided to examine the verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board to declare him a juvenile and letting him off the hook with mild sentence in a murder case.
New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) In a curious case, the Supreme Court has got iffy over identical signatures of an accused at the age of four and 12 years in the school records and decided to examine the verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board to declare him a juvenile and letting him off the hook with mild sentence in a murder case.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said it is an interesting case as the accused has made same signature at the age of four in class one and at the age of 12 in class 8 when he got into high school as it stayed the order of Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Baghpat declaring him juvenile.
“We will like to examine this case," the bench said, while issuing notice to the accused and his mother, directing that it be served through Station House Officer of concerned police station.
The top court sought their response in six weeks and directed that the notice be also served on the standing counsel of the Uttar Pradesh government.
“Pending further orders, there shall be a stay of the operation of the order of the Juvenile Justice Board, Baghpat dated November 11, 2020," the bench said in its order passed on August 27.
Advocate Anupam Dwivedi, appearing for petitioner Rishipal Solanki, son of the victim, who has challenged the Allahabad High Court rejecting his plea against the November 11, 2020 order of JJB and seeking medical examination of the accused to ascertain the actual.
Dwivedi said two identical signatures by a child, one at the age of four years made on July 2, 2009 and the other at the age of 12 years on April 3, 2014, raise serious doubts about the genuineness of school certificates as well as that of his actual age, in true spirit of section 94 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
He said under such suspicious circumstances, medical-examination/ossification test of the accused is necessary to ascertain the actual age of the person concerned.
The plea filed through advocate Rakesh Sharma said the High Court erred in rejecting the revision filed by the petitioner by completely ignoring the nature and gravity of the offences under various sections of IPC, including murder and attempt to murder, and the active participation of the Respondent No.2 (accused) in the commission of such offences.
The plea said there were material contradictions in the statements of the witnesses, especially the mother of the accused and the principal of the primary school, as regards the true age of the accused.
“The impugned decision has occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice and hence, deserves to be quashed and set aside by this Court in view of facts and circumstances of this case,” it said.
The plea further said the courts below have failed to consider that the school admission form contains signature of the accused when he was, purportedly, just 4-year-old at that time.
“This signature is identical with the signature of the Respondent No.2 (accused) at the admission form of class 8, which is stated to have been made by him at the age of 12 years. It is impossible to believe that a 4-year-old child would make clear signature of his own and will repeat the identical signature after eight years, that is at the age of 12 years,” the plea said.
It said this fact alone is sufficient to raise huge suspicion as regards the genuineness of the documents exhibited and the claimed juvenility of the accused.
Solanki, in his plea, said he belongs to a farmer's family and his father and uncle (both of them murdered) had been carrying on their occupation of transporting sugarcane from farms to the sugar mill in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh with the help of tractor and for the said purpose, they had got made two big trollies.
Sometimes, they used to park the said trollies on the wide public road near his residence and the residence of the accused was also nearer to the place where the trollies were sometimes parked.
On May 5, 2020 at around 4 pm, Solanki's father and uncle parked the tractor-trolley, as the same was having some mechanical problem, on the public road outside the village.
Soon some villagers along with the accused armed with traditional weapons came to the spot asking them for removal of trollies, which eventually led to a scuffle, in which his father died on the spot, while his uncle suffered grievous injuries, leading to his death in the hospital after four days.
According to the FIR, several other people were also injured in the attack.
Solanki said police arrested 15 people in the case and a charge sheet has been filed in the matter, but charges are yet to be framed.
After the accused claimed juvenility and filed a plea in the Juvenile Justice Board seeking to be declared as juvenile at the time of offence, Solanki moved an application opposing the claim.
The application of Solanki was later rejected by the JJB and declared the accused as juvenile. Solanki, thereafter, moved the sessions court and later High Court, but his pleas were dismissed.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)