AHER MALDA DADA v. STATE — 1971 DIGILAW 103 (GUJ)

S. H. SHETH, J. ( 1 ) THIS Revision Application is directed against an order by which the opponent No. 2 Samat Dhana has been found to be a child within the meaning of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 The said question arises under the following circumstances. ( 2 ) THE opponent Nos. 2 to 4 have been charge sheeted by the police before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class Khambhalia for having committed an offence under sec. 302 read with sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code. It is alleged that they murdered the son of the present petitioner. Before the committal court an application was made on behalf of the opponent No. 2 Samat Dhana stating that at the date of the commission of the alleged offence he was a child within the meaning of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 and that therefore his trial should be separated and he should be charge sheeted before the Childrens Court. The committal court held an inquiry and found that the opponent No. 2 was at the material date below 18 years of age and was therefore a child. It therefore directed that the opponent No. 2 should be tried by the Childrens Court Jamnagar. Against that order the present petitioner filed Criminal Revision Application No. 13 of 1971 in the Court of Sessions at Jamnagar. The learned Sessions Judge dismissed that application on merits. The present petitioner therefore filed in this High Court Criminal Revision Application No. 196 of 1971. Mr. Justice J. M. Sheth decided it by his judgment on 30th June 1971. He set aside the order of the courts below and directed the committal court to make a fresh inquiry into the matter in light of the observations made by him in his judgment. The committal court thereupon held a fresh inquiry and by its order dated 6th September 1971 again held that the opponent No. 2 at the material date was a child within the meaning of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 The present petitioner challenged that order in Criminal Revision Application No. 104 of 1971 which he filed before the Court of Sessions at Jamnagar. The learned Sessions Judge rejected it on merits. ( 3 ) IT is under these circumstances that the present Revision Application has been filed by the petitioner. ( 4 ) MR. The learned Sessions Judge rejected it on merits. ( 3 ) IT is under these circumstances that the present Revision Application has been filed by the petitioner. ( 4 ) MR. Vyas appearing for the petitioner has raised before me two contentions viz. (1) On correct construction of sec. 4 (d) of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 the opponent No. 2 ought not to have been held to be a child at the material date. (2) The committal court was in error in not taking the evidence of the original complainant about the marriage of the opponent No. 2 and the child born to him of that marriage. ( 5 ) SO far as the first question is concerned its significance lies in the fact that under the Saurashtra Children Act an accused who is child within the meaning of that Act and who has committed an offence enjoys certain statutory rights. Child has been defined by sec. 4 (d) of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 in the following terms:-CHILD means a boy or a girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years. Mr. Vyas has argued before me that the expression attained the age of eighteen years indicates the commencement of the 18th year and not the completion of that year. He has tried to point out to me certain provisions from the Constitution of India to show that where completion of a particular age is intended to be expressed by the Legislature it has used the expression completed instead of the expression attained. In the Bombay Children Act 1948 the expression child has been defined in the same language. It is true that the Legislature has used in more than one enactment the expression completed in order to indicate the completion of a particular period of age. ( 6 ) THE question which has arisen for my consideration is whether by using the expression attained in the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 the Legislature has sought to express a different intention. The verb attain has been assigned several meanings in Websters New Twentieth Century Dictionary. They are as follows. TO come or arrive by motion bodily exertion or effort toward a place object etc. 2 To reach a goal 3 To gain through effort 4 To achieve or accomplish. 5 To reach or come to arrive at. 6. To reach in excellence or degree. 7. They are as follows. TO come or arrive by motion bodily exertion or effort toward a place object etc. 2 To reach a goal 3 To gain through effort 4 To achieve or accomplish. 5 To reach or come to arrive at. 6. To reach in excellence or degree. 7. To equal (in case of objects ). 8. To ascertain to get possession of (in case of object ). 9 To overtake (in case of objects.)IT has also given the synonyms of this expression. They are as follows. 1 accomplish 2. acquire 3. compass 4. procure 5. achieve 6. reach 7. gain 8 get 9. earn 10. Win. Out of these several meanings assigned to the verb attain I have to find out which is the most appropriate for the purpose of construing the definition of child given in sec. 4 (d) of the Saurashtra Children Act. In my opinion the expression attain in the present case means reach. The further question therefore which arises is:- when does a person reach the age of 18 ? Does he reach on a day when he completes 17 years and commences his 18th year or does he reach when he completes 18 years and commences his 19th year ? The answer to this question is easy and simple. A person who completes 17 years cannot be said to have attained on that day 18 years. If a person can be said to have attained the age of 18 years on the day of his completion of 17 years a newly born babe on the day of its birth must be said to have attained the age of one year. Such a proposition is absurd and cannot be accepted. In my opinion therefore the expression attained the age of eighteen years used in sec. 4 (d) of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 means completed the age of eighteen years. No other meaning can be assigned to it. ( 7 ) SIMILAR question arose before the Chancery Division of the High Court of England in In re Shurey Savory v. Shurey 1918 (1) Chancery Division 263. The view which has been expressed by Mr. Justice Sergeant in that decision is that a person can be said to have attained a particular age when he completes that age and not when he commences the last year of that particular specified age. The view which has been expressed by Mr. Justice Sergeant in that decision is that a person can be said to have attained a particular age when he completes that age and not when he commences the last year of that particular specified age. I am therefore unable to accept the construction canvassed before me by Mr. Vyas. In my opinion the provisions of the Saurashtra Children Act 1954 govern the children who have not completed 18 years of age. I may add however at this stage that in the first round of litigation before the committal court the Sessions Court at Jamnagar and this High Court this point was not canvassed by Mr. Vyas. He did not canvass it also before the committal court and the Sessions Court at Jamnagar in the second round of litigation. Mr. Vyas has tried to raise it before me for the first time in this Revision Application and I have allowed him to argue because it is a pure question of law. [the rest of the judgment is not material for the reports]. .