In Brief
A young man claimed to be a juvenile when prosecuted for kidnapping and murder under Section 364A IPC. He relied on a matriculation certificate showing his date of birth as 17 December 1998. However, his school records, driving licence, and Aadhaar card consistently showed his date of birth as 17 December 1995. The Supreme Court held that although matriculation certificates are ordinarily given precedence in determining age, this preference is not absolute when the certificate rests solely on unverified parental statements without supporting documentation. Since multiple other documents consistently reflected the earlier date, and he had voluntarily disclosed it, the court accepted 17 December 1995 as his true date of birth. Therefore, he was not a juvenile on the date of the alleged offence (18 August 2015) and remained subject to adult criminal law.
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