School Certificate Can Be Treated As Proof Of Age Under Juvenile Justice Act: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court has held that a school certificate can be used to determine of age as per Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The Court was considering an Application under Sections 397 and 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code challenging the judgment and order passed by the Sessions Judge.

The Single Bench of Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia observed, "No parents would tell a false date of birth at the time of admission of his/her child in a school on an assumption that within a fixed period of time, his/her child would commit an offence and he/she will therefore, get the benefit of being a juvenile/child in conflict with law. Even, Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 also speaks about a school certificate showing date of birth for determination of age of a child. The learned Sessions Judge unnecessarily disbelieved the school certificate."

The Applicant was represented by Advocate S.C. Biswas, while the Respondent was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor P. Borthakur.

The Petitioner is among the nine accused persons in the case before the Sessions Judge, and he claimed to be a juvenile on the date of occurrence of the offence. In order to establish his date of birth, he produced the school certificate, which the Court accepted. However, one of the witnesses told the court that the Petitioner was admitted into the school on the basis of verbal information regarding his date of birth. Consequently, the Court reversed its decision.

The Court observed that no parent will intentionally get their child admitted at school with a false date of birth.

The Petition was accordingly disposed of.

Cause Title: Md. Matab Uddin vs. The State of Assam (2025:GAU-AS:7251)

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