JJ Act | No Need For Bone Ossification If Documents Prove Age Of Minor At The Time Of Incident: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that there is no need for Juvenile Justice Board to direct an ossification test for determination of age where the documents provided prove the accused to be minor at the time of the incident. Perusing Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Justice Manish Kumar held,“it is evident that even if any of the document is taken into consideration, the only fact that comes out is that the applicant was below 16 years of age at the time of the alleged incident. In such circumstances, there was no occasion for the Juvenile Justice Board to direct an ossification test for determination of age.”Revisionist was charged under Sections 65 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 3/4(2) of the POCSO Act, 2012 for allegedly outraging the modesty of a 15 year old girl. Informant alleged that the revisionist had threatened his daughter from informing anybody about the incident. Revisionist's counsel alleged that based on his High School marksheet, applicant was aged about 15 years 2 months and 10 days at the time of the alleged incident, whereas the informant alleged that he was 15 years, 8 months, and 29 days at the time of the alleged incident as per the scholar register of class V. The Juvenile Justice Board directed ossification test for determination of the revisionist. An appeal against the order was dismissed by the Special Judge/POCSO Act on grounds that there were two conflicting documents. Accordingly, revisionist approached the High Court. The Court observed that as per Section 94 of the Act, the following order was to be followed in case of age determination:“(i) the date of birth certificate from the school, or the matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination Board, if available;(ii) in the absence thereof, the birth certificate given by a corporation or a municipal authority or a Panchayat; and(iii) only in the absence of the above, the age shall be determined by an ossification test or any other medical age determination test conducted on the orders of the Committee or the Board.”Since both the High School certificate and the school records of Class V, reflected revisionist's age to be under 16 years, the Court held that there was no need to order ossification test. It held that Clause 3 of Section 94 started with the word 'only', therefore bone ossification test could be ordered only in absence of documents proving the age of the juvenile. Accordingly, the revision was allowed.Case Title: Pradeep Kori @ Pradeep Harijan (Minor) Thru. Father (Natural Guardian) v. State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Home Lko. And Another 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 169Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 169Click Here To Read/Download Order

JJ Act | No Need For Bone Ossification If Documents Prove Age Of Minor At The Time Of Incident: Allahabad High Court

Upasna Agrawal

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