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Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 4‑K in Criminal Petition No. 4‑K 1984, decided on 16th April, 1984.

(From the Order dated 20th December, 1983 of the High Court in Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 821 of 1982).

‑‑ Art. 185(3)‑Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898), Ss. 497 & 498‑Bail ‑ Petition for leave to appeal earlier dismissed for non appearance restored for reason that petitioner was not represented Petitioner, on basis of birth certificate, shown to be less than 16 years of age‑High Court, in an application for cancellation of his bail in murder case, taking his age to be 19 years on basis of report of Medical Board and directing that his case should proceed before ordinary Court (and not Juvenile Court) ‑ Held, observations of High Court, made in a bail matter, could be treated as tentative in nature and petitioner could raise before trial Court questions of his age and jurisdiction of Court‑Leave to appeal refused.

petitioner in person.

A. Sattar Shaikh, Addl. A.‑G., instructed by Muzaffar Hassan, Advocate‑on‑Record for Respondents.

Date of hearing : 16th April, 1984.

.‑The petitioner, by this miscellaneous petition, seeks the restoration of his Leave Petition which had been dismissed by Court for non‑appearance on 9‑4‑1984. He has submitted that he was present in Court on that date but could not know when the case was called and when he enquired towards the end of the day, he was told of the petition having already been dismissed. Since the petitioner was not represented, we accept his prayer and restore the Leave Petition.

2. On merits, the grievance of the petitioner is that the learned Judge of the High Court has, in an application moved for cancellation of his bail in a murder case, decided the question of his age thereby fixing the Court which would have jurisdiction to try the case. The petitioner's case on the basis of a birth certificate issued by the Badin Municipality was that he being less than 16, the matter would fall within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court. The learned Judge, however, on the basis of the report of the Medical Board that he was about 19 years of age, directed that his case should proceed before the ordinary Court. The observations of the High Court having been made in a bail matter, the same could be treated to be only tentative in nature. It will be open to the petitioner to raise before the trial Court the question of his age and the jurisdiction of that Court. With this observation, the petition for leave to appeal is dismissed.

S. Q. Petition dismissed.

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