The sixth accused in the December 16 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student here, was on Monday declared a minor by a Juvenile Justice Board on the basis of his school enrolment records, thus paving the way for an inquiry against him.
The sixth accused in the December 16 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student here, was on Monday declared a minor by a Juvenile Justice Board on the basis of his school enrolment records, thus paving the way for an inquiry against him.
The juvenile’s school documents were earlier verified before the board by his former school principal, on the basis of which it declared him a minor under the Juvenile Justice Act and also turned down the police request for his bone ossification (age determination) test.
It is learnt that the Board also referred to a Supreme Court judgment last year that expounded the steps to be followed under the Act for age determination, while concluding that the accused was a minor when he purportedly committed the crime.
Although the accused would turn 18 in June, the inquiry initiated by the Juvenile Justice Board against him would continue nevertheless as per Section 3 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Section 3 reads: “Where an inquiry has been initiated against a juvenile in conflict with the law or a child in need of care and protection and during the course of such inquiry the juvenile or the child ceases to be such, then, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, the inquiry may be continued and orders may be made in respect of such person as if such person had continued to be a juvenile or a child.”
Anant Asthana, a child rights lawyer, said: “If his offence is established during the inquiry, even if he becomes a major, one of the options before the Board is to keep him in a place of safety for a maximum period of three years for his reformation and mainstreaming.”
The prosecution would examine the order to ascertain whether they can challenge it in a higher court.
According to police records, the juvenile belongs to a poor family from Uttar Pradesh. While he has six siblings, his father is of unsound mind. He ran away from home and came here five years ago and initially worked at some dhabas in East Delhi.
Keywords: Delhi gang rape, juvenile issue, Juvenile Justice Act
Lack of common sense, if not dhaarmic sense makes the judges amongst us to think about the ageline between juvenile and adulthood as some accounting policy rule; it is ridiculous to judge that a person who commits a rape /brutal in his 17 Year 364th day and 2355 hrs is reformable and one who commits same violence 15 minutes later needs to be considered for punishment. This is how laws get called as "ass" with donkey"s consistency as Churchill said. Inability to factor it by coefficients of moral sense, physiological state etc makes us duds ; In rape , the liability to deturrent punishment should perhaps be based on whether the eperson has actually committed the rape and cruelty rather than the donkeys' age line It is believed as Dr Subramanian Swamy had pointed out that the ageline is not such a derterminant bench mark and that there is provision in law to factor other criterion which attest to the criminality consciousness of the person in absolute sense ; May wisdom prevail
Please don't play with some ones career, He will be Law minister one
day .... Just see his route to reach there.. 1. He will be kept like a
kid in the Home for three years and then released. He will allowed to
study and watch TV shows , he will be shown CID / Crime Petrol. With
fully trained in crime handling and wildness on top of his criminal
head knowing fully how to escape law and during his home stay , he
will have all friends with criminal mind. Our political parties will
take him over and create, the strategy, to make him stand in Election
and become MLA then MP and cabinet minister and then Law minister one
day...., you may understand the reason why 17 years old is not taken
as wild animal , do you still want to play with his career....think
again
what's this nonsense? So the JJB says a minor can rape and walk free?
Now won't this become incentive to other minor rapists?
Legal experts take note. Section 3: "...the inquiry MAY be continued and orders MAY
be made in respect of such person as if such person had continued to be a juvenile
or a child.” MAY is not the same as MUST. In such a vicious, planned attack, I do not
think that this "juvenile" should get the benefit of leniency that is written into the
section as a possibility.
Shame again.....
earlier a man killing hundreds of innocent lives in Mumbai Terrorist
attack incident, gets a trial and after so long gets punished.,there
was no need of it, video evidence was enough to get that accused
hanged in few days after that day. We took so long to execute him, it
showed the world How weak we still are today.....
and now in Delhi Rape Case, the accused is proved Juvenile, literally
is NO MORE juvenile because he obviously knew what he was doing with
the girl.
its now enough of Indian Constitution which now and then tries to
overtake the Law of GOD.
After such brutality, it was this minor, who gave
the idea of stripping the victims and throwing them out of the bus.
Such is the mentality - you kill and brutalize people and then
suddenly you become a child when it comes to justice.
Are we so stupid? Does it take a law book to say whether this act by a
17 and a half year old deserve to punished in the rarest of rare
category. Set him free, and one can guarantee that juveniles will be
picked up for crimes.
Without wasting any time, with an intention to send the strongest
possible message, this monster Juvenile responsible for the murder of
Delhi braveheart must be shot dead.
How can the Juvenile Justice Board explain his acts as the acts of a
child? This was an incredibly brutal and sadistic set of events that I
can't accept a child would do.
Age is just a number, physical and age maturity are the factors to be
considered and in his case, he seems to have more than enough of both.
If our democracy lets of such criminals loose on small and silly
technicalities, people will loose faith on the system and take action
into their own hands.
He has taken a life, and after three years he will be in his prime,
let loose among normal men and women. On seeing the statistics of
rapists are generally repeat offenders, he is very likely to repeat
his offence! Its well past the time that we correct these rules! And
try him in the court of Law as an Adult.
I would like to see an editorial regarding this juvenile issue from 'The Hindu'
A rapist is safe and walks free if his age is 17 years, 364 days, 23
hours. It is high time to come out of books. Judiciary is supposed to
deliver natural justice in such cases.
It's unbelievable that this person is being tried as a minor. His crime
is heinous, by letting him go our system will encourage 'minors' to
commit such acts of atrocity. There are times when one must stick to the
law, and there are times when the law must be changed in order to
deliver justice. Make amends, change the law, hang the scum.
Why no flogging (whipping or caning) punishment for rapists and molestors in India ? South East Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and many Islamic countries deliver this to convicted criminals for such crimes. It is a very effective deterrant. For a 17 year old committing such heinous crimes (if proven so before a competitive court) I believe 50 lashes or strokes of the cane will teach him a good lesson and future rapists would also think twice if the same is well publicised.
India is a country which has in Mahabaratha, the infamous scene where Draupadi is disrobed in the front of many Elders and the Pandavas in the Kuru Court.
None of the Elders decried the act and call upon punishing Dushshasana. Instead they mouthed platitudes and showed no action.
Similarly,in India today, the so called Elders (Politicians and Governing bodies) have shown their weakness.
For many ages and generations such atrocities have been committed and Indians have done anything to prevent their repitition or had laws in place to protect their women.
If they cannot protect their women, how will the so called Elders (Politicians and Governing bodies)protect Mother India?
Time for some public shaming and punishment of the culprits as an example to other inetnding rapists and to show the Government's determination to root out this evil in the Indian society.
Khudiram Bose waged a war on the conquerers of his country at the age of 16 and was hung to death at 18 . This "most brutal" juvenile murderer of Nirbhaya seems to have many well wishers and protectors . Who will guarantee that he will not repeat this crime again? Or do we expect a transformation of this Ratnakar to a Valmiki . Salute the wisdom of the people who are put in positions of power !
the heinous crime was not a juvenile act - can't try him under juvenile provisions and some one will have to take a call - will it be the PM or the Prseident or CJ?
A rapist cannot be considered a juvenile whatsoever.
Court declares Delhi gangrape accused juvenile based on "school certificate"....the same document which was NOT considered in case of Gen VK Singh ?
This izz India! Hindustan Zindabad!
It is a travesty of justice. Hon. SC did not accept the school certificate in case of a former army officer. And now, Hon. Board does not accept the plea for bone test when it is a common knowledge that most persons record a lower age at the time of school admission. One of the things the prosecution ought to verify the age of other students in his class - are they, in general, below or above his age.
I am appalled at this system and the authorities. If justice can not be achieved in
such high profile cases, what will happen in other cases.
It may take us 100-150 yrs to get a society where we can live safely. The question is,
do we really want to do that?
Its shocking and unbelievable to hear that the minor who was the most brutal of all would go free. The govt should make an exception and treat this beast as a "major" and make sure he doesn't see the outside world for the rest of this life.
Shame on the judicial system for making it this simple for anyone to
escape justice. Is this what the system has come to ? Making it simpler
for crooks to get away without punishment ?
The judgement has to be based on a medical tests not on school certificate.
These are real and unfortunate loopholes in our system ...
Loophole 1) If you are below 18, you can do any serious illegal activity and get away with it.
Loophole 2) You can do any serious illegal activity and get away with it saying, "it was not a deliberate act of offense, it was under the influence of alcohol!"
... the IRONY is: not a single lawmaker or policymaker wants to rectify it. This will give us an extremely alarming condition in which youth will start taking law into their hands to rectify such loopholes.
There you go Kid!
Now you have the license to rape any girl , anywhere till you are 18!
Are you happy??
Thanks to the wonderful laws in our country!!
If he could do a heinous crime like rape, how could he considered as a minor. For different crimes, the age for minor should be changed.It is really atrocious if he could walk out of this with such a small term.
This is a abject surrender of justice and common sense before idiotic
set of rules that are inflexible to the extant that they lose every
contact with the word 'rationality'. The purpose of the law-abided
sentence is not only to punish the perpetrator but also to discourage
future criminals. All that this sentence does is to encourage other
juvenile delinquents to rape and molest someone elsewhere and to be
content that all they will get are holiday vacations at some
rehabilitation center. Obviously we cant make laws based on an
isolated incident, but judiciary system should also have exception
handling of some sort so that decisions does not pass the wrong
message. I don't see how 5 months of jail-time transforms a person
from rapist of the worst kind to a benign individual acceptable back
in the society. If laws are to be 'sane', we are long way to get
there.
I feel bad for the Juvenile Board. As much as everyone else, I trust they also probably
wanted this person to be sent to gallows. I can only pity their plight for getting stuck between
rock and a hard place. I commend their scruples in sticking to the rule book.
I suspect this juvenile will now get vigilante justice if he 'walks free' and I also foresee a
comical tragedy where Govt will spend more energies protecting this juvenile from such
lynching, than punishing him. Such is our country!
The court, law, whole country cannot provide justice to the victim and
here people talk about changing the country.This is really pathetic and
disgusting.Shame on all Indians.
Since he is 17 years and six months this case should be elevated to an adult court and he should be tried as an adult. There is no excuse for any court not to do any other way. It will ba travisty of justice
It is such a shame that he could go free citing his age.If he could do such a brutal thing at such a young age, what guarantee that he would not repeat it during his lifetime.He should be punished, especially since he is the most brutal of the six.If they let him go free, he will prove a menace to the soceity.
Law is impotent: Indian lawmakers never had a farsightedness
...Punishment should be according to Crime & Not Age..
one can find increase in Juvenile committing Rape & Murder...
if the accused was eligible for doing such a non human act why is he not
eligible for equal punishment. Is it approved by the govt. that anyone
below the age of 18 can do any crime as if he is not eligible for
punishment
The nature of crime committed, can a juvenile commit it, or even think of it. A certificate can be manipulated easily in India, unfortunate thruth.
A BONE test can prove his right age, why shy from it? Prove it
It is really unfortunate that one of the accused, having commited such a brutal crime ,can go unpunished with the help of the loops in the law.
Whatever, it is certain that he cannot eke out a living successfully because the memories the dead girl will haunt him and people will spit on his face.
i think the court should not render any kind of legal bias to the same becasue this a rarest of the rare crime and hence whoever involved , despite their age and status should be hanged till death.
Such a shame on our laws... does this mean if someone is under 18 they can commit what ever crime they want to and roam around freely? If the laws are not correct they should be changed, but people should not be forced to follow unjustified laws... It is scary that our laws have so many favouring factors for wrong doers...
Ridiculous.What if a juvenile do a terror attack against the country? Will the government and law follow the same procedure?
Injustice in the name Red Tapism.
Better take a scientific/medical approach in deciding the age than depending on the certificates. In India, a wrong date-of-birth in the certificate is not so uncommon. Moreover, someone should file a case in a way that the the trial of this 'monstrous murderer' is suspended till the government decides on the age-limit of a minor involved in such heinous acts, considering the loopholes in the existing laws meant for juvenile. Else, someone may wait for the release of this murderer with an iron-rod; we have already seen people planting bombs at the house of one of the accused.
What is a shame...total Mockery of the Judicial System this great nation
It is high time the indian constitutions and laws are amended and revamped. Just because a boy is below 18 years of age , he cant be tried as a juvenile when he is a part of a henious crime.
When he was aware of rape and had the audactiy to commit he no longer classifies a juvenile. Sometimes it is important common sense is used when a decision/ruling is made by judges in the court.
A 10 year or 18 year old in this generation is aware and has access to far more information than a 10year or 18 year old who was born in 1960s or 80s.
The decisions try the 6th accused as juvenile is an imbecile decision
Feeling pity on the Indian law system. May the God punishes that "Young" Beast.
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