About 2 months after the Allahabad High Court flagged cases in which boys around 19-20 years of age were allegedly falsely implicated in POCSO Act cases based on victims' false age certificates, the Uttar Pradesh government has proposed guidelines for recording students' ages at the time of school admission.

A bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal was apprised that the proposed guidelines prescribe 4 documents that may be accepted as proof of a child's age at the time of admission, in the absence of a birth certificate.

The proposal also provides for recording the document relied upon in the school register and prescribes a format for age certificates issued by schools.

Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Basic Education, Partha Sarthi Sensharma, appeared before the Court and informed the Court that the Education Department held meetings in September and October, after which it prepared the proposed guidelines.

It may be noted that in August this year, the High Court had flagged what it described as the "clear misuse of the POCSO Act" by the parents of the victims who submit forged school certificates to show the victims as below 18 years of age.

A similar issue regarding the victim's age came up before Justice Deshwal's bench in a different bail petition under the POCSO Act. Taking note of the same, the bench observed thus in its October 24 order:

"This Court came across number of cases where on the basis of false age certificate of victim, the accused boys of about 19 to 20 years old had been falsely implicated in the case under POCSO Act on the basis of false age certificate".

However, the bench noted that the state government had come up with a proposal where, if a birth certificate under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1886, is unavailable at the time of school admission, one of 4 documents may be accepted as proof of the child's age, in accordance with Rule 9 of the Uttar Pradesh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011.

The documents include a hospital certificate or Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) register record, an Anganwadi Centre record, the birth and death register maintained by the Gram Panchayat, or an affidavit declaring the child's age by a parent or guardian.

The proposed guidelines also require the school's scholar register to record which document the parent or guardian submitted at the time of admission. The relevant class teacher would sign the corresponding entry, whether the student was admitted to Class I or another class.

Further, when a competent authority seeks an age certificate, the head teacher or headmistress would issue it in a prescribed format based on the student's details and date of birth recorded in the school register.

The ACS informed the Court that consultations with other departments, including the Law Department, were still underway and that the final guidelines would be issued after the consultation process was completed.

The Court expressed satisfaction with the explanation furnished by the ACS and appreciated his efforts to prepare the guidelines in consultation with other departments.

"This court is satisfied with the explanation submitted by the ACS, Basic Education, U.P., Lucknow and appreciates his effort to prepare guidelines in consultation with other departments", Justice Deshwal observed.

It directed the other departments to cooperate with the ACS so that the final guidelines regarding the entry of age in school records and the format of age certificates issued by schools could be issued.

The Registrar (Compliance) was also directed to send a copy of the order to the Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh, for circulation to the Principal Secretaries or Additional Chief Secretaries of the departments whose consultation was required.

On the merits of the case, the Court noted that the FIR described the victim as around 16 years old, while her statements recorded under Sections 180 and 183 BNSS stated that she had passed Class VIII and was around 14 years old.

The applicant's counsel alleged that a Class V certificate supplied to the police showed the victim to be below 14, while her Class VIII records had been concealed. These were submissions made in the bail proceedings.

The Court also noted that the victim's medical examination had not been conducted because her parent refused it.

Considering the victim's statements, the circumstances surrounding the medical examination, the nature of the offence, the evidence and the alleged complicity of the accused, the Court granted bail to the applicant.