The Allahabad High Court has declared that medical age determination tests, specifically ossification tests, are illegal for minors when valid school or municipal birth certificates are already available, reinforcing the importance of documentary evidence in legal proceedings.
The Lucknow bench of 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.
Holding this, the high court set aside the orders of the Juvenile Justice Board and the Special POCSO Court and granted bail to a minor accused of molesting and threatening a 15-year-old girl.
A bench of Justice Manish Kumar passed the order on Saturday on a revision petition filed by a minor.
The case is from Pratapgarh district, where an FIR was lodged with Leelapur police station on March 11, 2025, charging the minor under sections of the POCSO Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
It was argued on behalf of the minor petitioner that he was under 16 years of age at the time of the incident.
His high school certificate mentioned his date of birth as January 1, 2010, while his primary school records stated his date of birth as May 13, 2009.
Despite this, the Juvenile Justice Board ordered a medical examination to determine his age, which was upheld by the appellate court of the Special Judge, POCSO Act, Pratapgarh.
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. Only in the absence of these documents, a medical examination can be conducted.
The high court observed that both available documents showed that the accused petitioner was a minor and that ordering a medical examination was against the law.
While granting conditional bail to the minor petitioner, the high court directed him to appear before the district probation officer along with his guardian on the 10th of every month for one year and to stay away from any criminal activity.