‘I appreciate Juvenile Justice Board’s decision’

The Juvenile Justice Board transferred the case to a Sessions Court for the juvenile to be tried as an adult accused.

The juvenile accused in the Mercedes hit-and-run case, which led to the death of a 33-year-old business consultant on April 4, will be tried as an adult.

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Saturday transferred the case to a Sessions Court for the juvenile to be tried as an adult accused.

Victim’s kin reacts

Reacting to the decision, which comes on the eve of what would have been the victim Siddhartha Sharma's 33rd birthday, his sister Shilpa said: “I appreciate the JJB’s decision. It was not about winning or losing for us. It was about setting an example. We want people with deep pockets to know that their children cannot get away with such an act. It is not cool to allow young children to drive. If such an unfortunate incident happens tomorrow, I hope people will think twice before sending the driver to own up the crime.”

Lawyers say that this is perhaps the first time after the amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, was brought in that a JJB has transferred the case of a minor in conflict with law to a trial court for prosecution as an adult accused.

What the law says

According to Section 2 (33) of the amended law, “heinous offences include the offences for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more”. It also empowers the JJB to transfer the case of a minor (in the age group of 16 to 18 years) alleged to have committed a heinous crime to a Sessions Court for trial after conducting a preliminary assessment.

Since the offence committed by the juvenile in this case falls under the definition of ‘heinous crime’, the Board allowed a Delhi Police plea to transfer the case to the Sessions Court.

The Delhi Police have charged the accused under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, which provides for a maximum sentence of 10 years if found guilty.

He has also been charged under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.

At present, the juvenile is out on bail. His father is also an accused in the case.