Mumbai: A special MCOCA court on Wednesday directed the investigating officer in the Tiger Shroff firing case to conduct an inquiry into a claim raised by alleged shooter Phool Singh Kumar that he is 17 and not 19 as alleged, but declined to immediately send him to a protection home. The probe report has to be filed in 15 days.In his plea, Kumar claimed he was born on Nov 30, 2008, and produced a birth certificate issued by a competent authority in Haryana and an Aadhaar card as proof.Special judge S R Navander noted that Kumar failed to raise this juvenility claim on three previous occasions when he was produced in courts—for his transit remand in Haryana’s Sonipat, a magistrate court in Mumbai, and then in the special MCOCA court after the stringent law was invoked. “He was duly represented by competent lawyers on all occasions…” said the judge, who declined his immediate transfer to a special juvenile police unit considering this “non-disclosure”.Noting that investigations in the case are at their “peak”, the judge sent him and four others to police custody till Nov 11. Twelve accused, including two women, were produced in court.Kumar told the court that he had informed police about his juvenility but was told to keep mum. The defence claimed he did not disclose his age in courts earlier out of fear of police and because he did not get a proper opportunity to speak to his lawyer during previous proceedings.Kumar’s plea, filed by advocates Sidhant Mor and Divyam Gaur, said a claim of juvenility under Juvenile Justice Act can be raised before a court at any stage of a case’s proceedings and the court is required to conduct an inquiry, take evidence and record a finding on age. It said allegations’ seriousness or invocation of MCOCA cannot remove the requirement of determining whether an applicant was under 18 on the date of the alleged offence. The plea said if Kumar is found to have been a minor on that date, consequential orders should be issued, including referral of the matter to Juvenile Justice Board for proceedings in accordance with law.The investigating officer said the Aadhaar card that was produced was fake. The prosecution said Kumar had been treated as an adult in a bike theft case in Sonipat earlier. Kumar claimed that case was heard by a juvenile court.Police said they had discovered transactions of around Rs 28,000 made in Oct alone through an account linked to the 13th arrested accused, Suneha Pandit, sister-in-law of alleged mastermind Anil Pandit.
