Conduct ossification test to determine if accused was minor: Court to J J Hospital

Indian Express

09-05-2025

A sessions court on Friday directed the Dean of Sir J J Hospital to constitute a committee or board to conduct an ossification test of the accused booked for allegedly murdering a vice- president of HDFC Bank in 2018.
The accused, earlier this year, claimed that he was a 17-year-old at the time of the offence and hence must be tried as a juvenile.
'It is hereby directed that, the Dean of Sir J. J. Hospital shall constitute a Committee/Board or any other alternative arrangement available at their establishment for conducting the Ossification Test of the applicant/accused within two weeks from the date of receipt of this order at their establishment,' additional sessions judge A A Joglekar.
The court said that its decision on whether the accused was a minor in 2018 will be kept in abeyance till the test report is filed.
On September 5, 2018, 39-year-old Siddharth Sanghvi, a vice-president with HDFC Bank, was killed in the parking lot of his workplace building at Kamala Mills.
The accused was arrested after Sanghvi's body was found five days later, and the police had claimed that the murder was committed with the intent to rob Sanghvi.
Earlier this year, the accused claimed he was a minor at that time.
After two school leaving certificates emerged— one submitted by the prosecution showing he was an adult in 2018, and one by the accused showing he was a minor then — the court has now ordered an ossification test.
Ossification is the natural process of bone formation. Based on the development of bones, medical experts can determine the approximate age of the person.
As per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, proof of age is to be determined through birth certificate or school leaving certificate and only if these certificates are not available, the court can order an ossification test.
In this case, the court had summoned an education officer in Uttar Pradesh and a principal of a school where the accused had received a school leaving certificate from. The authorities said that the school leaving certificate given by the prosecution was not in their records and that the transfer certificate taken from another school too appeared bogus. Hence, the court ordered an ossification test.