The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has said that it is illegal to conduct a medical examination (ossification test) to determine a minor’s age when certificates from a school, board, municipal corporation, municipality, or panchayat are available.
The high court set aside the orders of the Juvenile Justice Board and the special Pocso court and granted conditional bail to a minor accused of molesting and threatening a 15-year-old girl. The court directed the minor to appear before the district probation officer with his guardian on the 10th of every month for one year and to stay away from any criminal activity.
Justice Manish Kumar passed the order recently on a revision petition filed by the minor.
The case is from Pratapgarh district, where an FIR was lodged on March 11, 2025 under sections of the Pocso Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
His date of birth was shown as January 1, 2010 in the high school certificate and as May 13, 2009 in the primary school records.
Despite this, the Juvenile Justice Board ordered an age-check test, which the court of the special judge (POCSO Act, Pratapgarh) upheld. Both orders were challenged in a revision petition filed before the high court.
The high court said that, according to Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, school or board certificates should be considered first for determining age.
Birth certificates issued by municipal corporations, municipalities, or panchayats should be considered next. A medical examination can be conducted only in the absence of these documents.
The high court observed that both available documents showed the accused was a minor.
