NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said the X-ray ossification test can’t be said to be an infallible and accurate test to indicate the exact date of birth of a person and it cannot be the sole basis to decide the age of an accused who claims to be a juvenile .
While rejecting a plea of an accused who claimed to be juvenile, a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian noted that the birth and school leaving certificates placed by the accused were also not reliable as they were procured after defense of juvenility was raised by him in the court.
“Needless to say, the plea of juvenility has to be raised in a bona fide and truthful manner. If the reliance is on a document to seek juvenility which is not reliable or dubious in nature, the appellant cannot be treated to be juvenile keeping in view that the Act is a beneficial legislation. As also held in Babloo Pasi case, the provisions of the statute are to be interpreted liberally but the benefit cannot be granted to the appellant who has approached the court with untruthful statement,” the bench said.
The court also refused to accept the opinion of the medical board which examined the accused.
While rejecting a plea of an accused who claimed to be juvenile, a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian noted that the birth and school leaving certificates placed by the accused were also not reliable as they were procured after defense of juvenility was raised by him in the court.
“Needless to say, the plea of juvenility has to be raised in a bona fide and truthful manner. If the reliance is on a document to seek juvenility which is not reliable or dubious in nature, the appellant cannot be treated to be juvenile keeping in view that the Act is a beneficial legislation. As also held in Babloo Pasi case, the provisions of the statute are to be interpreted liberally but the benefit cannot be granted to the appellant who has approached the court with untruthful statement,” the bench said.
The court also refused to accept the opinion of the medical board which examined the accused.
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