A Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), trying the minor accused in the December 16 brutal gang rape and murder of a 23 year-old girl, on Thursday reserved its judgment for July 25.
The Board presided by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel reserved the verdict after counsel for the accused and the prosecution submitted their clarifications.
The juvenile accused in the case is being tried for the gang rape and brutal assault of the paramedic student in a moving bus in New Delhi on the night of December 16, last year. The murder charge was slapped after the victim died on December 29 in a Singapore hospital.
Besides the juvenile, four adult accused, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur are being tried by a special fast track court.
Proceedings against key accused Ram Singh abated after his death on March 11 when he was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail.
Parents of the gangrape victim were present outside the JJB on Thursday. Speaking to media persons, they sought death penalty for the juvenile accused, whom the police in its charge sheet had dubbed as the “most brutal” of all the six accused persons in the case.
According to a police official, the counsel for the juvenile accused submitted some clarifications related to the incident and also claimed that his client was innocent as he was “not present” in the bus on the night of December 16.
The official said that the prosecution too submitted its reply to the contentions of the accused’s counsel.
He said that the judgment in another case related to robbery of a carpenter on the same night before the accused gangraped the girl has been kept in a sealed cover and will be pronounced later.
The other four accused are also being tried for robbing carpenter Ramadhar on the fateful night.
During the inquiry, the juvenile had denied all charges against him, claiming he was not a participant in the horrendous crime.
