Claims of juvenility: LHC says trial court should rely on medical reports

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) held that a trial court should rely on medical reports to declare an accused juvenile if unsatisfied with the documents submitted before it.

The court passed this order in a petition of Kamran Mushtaq challenging the decision of a trial court that rejected his application based on a medical report for declaring him juvenile.

The court said documents primary or secondary, in support of the age of the accused, shall not be accepted at the whims of the parties without verification but on the touchstone of admissibility rules.

The court observed that the age of the accused should only be accepted on the basis of documents after a proper inquiry.

And if after an inquiry into such documents, the court rejects them, then it must direct for medical examination, the court added.

The object of the inquiry is to determine the truth or falsity of certain facts in order to take further action thereon, the court added. The court observed that inquiry for age determination is like a voir dire process which cannot be left at the mercy of the police.

The court said enactment of Section 8 of the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018 requires the police to collect material for and against claims of juvenility to save precious time of the courts.

Once the police opinion is made available to the court with documentary proof or with a medical examination report, it becomes easy for it to conduct a prompt inquiry for determination of the age of the accused which earlier takes months to reach out, the court observed.

The court said this beneficial provision requires that the concerned court on receiving Juvenile-challan shall start an inquiry to check the veracity of material through the process of verification while calling reports from concerned public offices or schools with authorized persons as witnesses whose testimonies shall be recorded in chief with cross-examination and then the court shall pass an order.

The court dismissed the petition and observed that the trial court while rejecting documents submitted by the petitioner has not committed any illegality or irregularity to warrant any interference by this court.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024