New Delhi: A Delhi court has allowed the cross-examination of the mother of an accused in the age determination proceedings of a juvenile in the Tarun Butolia murder case. It said the defence must be given a chance to present video evidence that could settle the question on the age of the accused.The court set aside an order of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) that said the accused was a minor at the time of the murder. Tarun (26) succumbed to injuries after a clash in Uttam Nagar on March 4 during Holi.Additional sessions judge Rajat Goyal said the JJB erred by refusing to allow the defence to confront the witness with a 2012 video, which could help determine the age of the accused.The dispute is over conflicting records that show the birth year of the accused as 2007 and also 2011. “Mere denial of an alleged fact by a witness does not disentitle the other side from confronting the witness with audio/video/documentary proof. In fact, such confrontation becomes all the more important when a witness orally denies the existence of the alleged fact,” the court said.The judge said denying the defence an opportunity to rely on the video would defeat the purpose of an age inquiry. If the accused was born in 2007, he would have been around five years old when the video was recorded in 2012, whereas a 2011 birth year would mean he was only four to five months old. Such a marked difference, the court said, could reasonably be assessed from the person’s physical appearance in the footage.The court also held that allowing the video to be put to the witness would not prejudice the respondent. Preventing the defence from using the footage would prejudice its right to challenge the authenticity of the school records relied upon to establish the accused’s age.
