Sri Ganesh v. State of Tamil Nadu and Anr.
Background
The appellant was charge-sheeted under Section 376 IPC after a complaint that he had sexual intercourse with the victim on several occasions on a false promise of marriage, with the victim stating in cross-examination that the last such incident occurred in August 2009. During trial, the appellant raised a plea of juvenility, claiming that going by his date of birth he was a minor at the relevant time. The trial court examined documentary evidence and fixed his date of birth as 19.10.1991, holding him not juvenile on the date of the offence, but the Madras High Court directed a medical examination to redetermine his age, prompting this appeal to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that once the trial court had relied on statutory documentary evidence to determine the appellant's date of birth, and that finding was not shown to be flawed, there was no basis for the High Court to order a medical examination: the law requires a medical report only when the documents are found fabricated or manipulated. The Court also held that where an offence is alleged to have occurred on multiple dates, juvenility must be assessed as of the date of the last incident, which the trial court had correctly done based on the victim's own testimony. The Court distinguished a precedent relied on by the respondent (Karthi) as relevant only to delay in lodging the FIR, not to shifting the date of the offence itself. Finding the High Court's approach "incorrect and completely misdirected" and remand to be an empty formality, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's order, and restored the trial court's finding that the appellant was not a juvenile.
Lesson Learnt
When a court has already determined a person's age from valid documentary evidence, courts should not order a fresh medical age-determination merely because a party disputes the finding: medical examination is only warranted where the documents themselves are shown to be fabricated.