NOB-New Delhi news: The Supreme Court has made it clear that certificates issued by schools should be taken as standard for age determination. The birth certificates given by them are worth more. It is said that only in the absence of these, the documents given by the doctors should be examined as a last resort. The court heard the application filed by the accused in the murder case that took place in 1982 and gave a verdict to this extent. Date of birth certificates issued by schools, municipalties and gram panchayats should be considered authentic and when they are not available, ossification test certificates issued by doctors should be examined.The present case petitioner Vinod Katara along with three others were sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court in 1986 for the murder which took place on 10^th September, 1982.

The Supreme Court also upheld this sentence. They are currently serving their sentence in Mathura Jail. On the other hand, a PIL has been filed in Allahabad High Court to examine whether some of the convicted accused were minors at the time of the crime. The Mathura Jail Medical Board, which examined the convicts in 2021, determined that Vinod Katara’s age would be 56 years on December 10^th, 2021. According to this, Vinod approached the Supreme Court that he would have been about 15 years of age on September 10^th, 1986, the date of the murder, and that such a sentence was not appropriate. The Supreme Court has ordered the Additional District Court Judge of Agra to submit a report on Vinod’s age on September 12^th, 2022. The judge, who examined many documents along with school certificates, concluded that Vinod was a major when the crime was committed. The Supreme Court also upheld this.