Investigation officer has no jurisdiction to determine child's age: HC

No investigation officer has the authority to identify a child, who is in contact with the law or involved in conflict with the law, according to High Court guidelines.

However, if anyone involved in conflict with the law appears to be a child, the investigation officer or institution will present him before the juvenile court to determine his age.

The juvenile court will determine the age following the provisions of Section 21 of the Children Act of 2013.

The High Court has given a five-point guideline, including such instructions, in the verdict granting a criminal appeal titled 'Maulana Abdus Sattar vs the State and Another'. There are instructions mentioned in the second part of the rules, according to local media report.

The High Court has asked the concerned judge to follow these five-point rules while determining the age of a child who came in contact with the law (a victim of a crime or a child involved in a crime) or involved in conflict with the law (child involved in the crime).

The HC bench of Justice Md Zakir Hossain and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq passed the order on February 15. The full verdict was recently published.

In one case, the plaintiff filed an appeal against the order of the juvenile court rejecting the application of a defendant seeking to summon the admission registrar and attendance book of his school to determine the correctness of his age.

The High Court said that according to the provisions of Section 21 of the Children Act, only the Children's Court has been given the right to call someone a child, whether an accused or not. But there is no clear or specific instruction in this section about what kind of certificates or information will be determined in the light of age. Therefore, the High Court thinks that some instructions must be given. In this case, the judge of the Children's Court will follow these rules in determining someone as a child.