Court No. - 42
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 550 of 2019 Petitioner :- Joyta Mandal And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Babloo Pant Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Hon'ble Virendra Kumar Srivastava,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned A.G.A. for the respondents 1 to 4 and have perused the record.
This habeas corpus petition has been filed by Akash Biswas claiming himself to be the husband of the corpus (Joyta Mandal).
The case of the petitioner is that the Joyta Mandal is an adult and she is not wanted in any case, therefore she cannot be kept in a protection home against her wishes.
The date of birth of the corpus recorded in her Aadhaar Card is 23.7.2000 which has been relied upon for the purpose of maintaining this petition.
A perusal of the record reveals that Sukumar (the father of the corpus) had lodged a First Information Report at P.S. Hastinapur, District Meerut against Akash (petitioner no. 2) and two others alleging that Jyota Mandal, minor daughter of the informant, aged about 16 years, has been enticed away by the accused persons.
The statement of the corpus was recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C. where she stated that she has voluntarily entered into relationship with Akash and that the prosecution case is false.
The corpus was produced before the Child Welfare Committee, Meerut. The Child Welfare Committee found the corpus to be a minor and not willing to go with her parents and, therefore, she was placed under protection of Nari Niketan, Meerut.
In this petition, the petitioner has placed reliance on the date of birth entered in the Aadhar Card of the corpus but has not disputed that the corpus is a High School pass and her date of birth recorded in her High School pass certificate is 05.05.2003.
On 10.7.2019, when the corpus was produced before the Court, a statement was made by the corpus that she had appeared in her High School Examination in the year 2018 from S.D. Vidya Mandir, Meerut. But, as the high school pass certificate indicated the name of the institution as Rajesh Pilot Inter College, Rani Nangla, Meerut, the Court required the learned A.G.A. to get the educational certificate verified and to ascertain whether the name of the corpus finds mention in the Scholar Register of S.D. Vidya Mandir, Meerut.
The learned A.G.A. has obtained instructions from the police as also from the institution concerned. On the basis of the instructions received, he has stated that S.D. Vidya Mandir is actually a coaching center which takes tuition for under privileged children and Rajesh Pilot Inter College is the Institution from where the corpus did her High School.
The relevant extract of the Scholar's Register and Transfer Certificate form has also been produced after obtaining it from the Principal of Government Balika Inter College, Hastinapur (Meerut) which is also known as Rajesh Pilot Inter College. The document indicates that her date of birth in the Scholar's Register is recorded as 05.05.2003.
The corpus has again been produced before us today. To clarify the confusion as regards the name of the Institution from where the corpus did her High School, we inquired from the corpus, whether, there is a separate institution by the name of S.D. Vidya Mandir or not.
The corpus stated before us that the Institution from where she did her High School is Rajesh Pilot Inter College, but, in the building of the said college, S.D. Vidya Mandir is also written.
Be that as it may, once it is admitted that she has done her High School Examination from Rajesh Pilot Inter College wherein her date of birth recorded is 05.05.2003, which has been verified by the State respondents, there remains no doubt that in her education certificate, her date of birth is 05.05.2003 which renders her a minor as on date. Further, no other educational certificate has been produced before us so as to put us on guard as to the correctness of the entry of the date of birth recorded for the purpose of holding further inquiry.
Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provides for the presumption and determination of the age of a Juvenile in conflict with law. It is well settled legal principle that for determining the age of a child victim same principles are to be applied as are applicable to determine the age of a Juvenile in conflict with law. Section 94 of the J.J. Act, 2015 accords primacy to the date of birth recorded in an educational certificate over age determined through medical evidence.
Under the said circumstances, keeping in mind that there is no dispute raised as regards the date of birth of the corpus being recorded as 05.05.2003 in her educational certificate, we find that the order of the Child Welfare Committee, which is empowered under Section 37(1) (c) of the J.J. Act, 2015 to direct placement of a child victim in a Protection Home, is neither without jurisdiction nor illegal. Hence, the petition is dismissed.
The petitioners would be at liberty to take recourse to alternative remedy provided under the J.J. Act, 2015.
The corpus shall be sent back to the Protection Home (Nari Niketan), Meerut from where she has been brought to Allahabad.
Order Date :- 30.7.2019 Saurabh