In Brief
A man accused of kidnapping and murder for ransom claimed juvenile status based on a matriculation certificate showing he was born 17 December 1998 (making him 16 years old at the time of the alleged crime on 18 August 2015). The Supreme Court rejected this claim, finding that earlier school records, his own driving licence and Aadhaar card (both showing birth date of 17 December 1995), and evidence that the matriculation certificate was recorded without supporting documentation, all indicated he was actually born in 1995, making him 19 years old at the time of the offence. The Court held that while matriculation certificates normally take precedence in age determination, they can be rejected when they lack authentic underlying documentation and contradict other credible evidence consistently disclosed by the accused himself.
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