‘A heinous crime should not get diluted just because the attacker is a juvenile’

In the recent attacks on people belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), the perpetrators were mostly juveniles. To prevent such crimes, these cases should be treated as heinous and the offenders punished without showing any leniency, said A. Kathir, executive director of Evidence, a Madurai-based organisation.

“After the girl spurned his love, the boy hacked her to death and though he was arrested, he will come out on bail as he is a juvenile”A. Kathir Executive director of Evidence, an NGO

Speaking to The Hindu, he said that in the latest attack in Tirunelveli City, a 18-year-old SC girl was targeted by a 17-year-old youth from an intermediate caste. “After the girl spurned his love, the boy hacked her to death in broad daylight on October 2. Though he was arrested, he will certainly come out on bail soon as he is a juvenile,” said.

Such crimes should not be treated as something committed by an adult or a juvenile. The recent pattern of atrocities against the Dalits showed that most of the crimes were committed by youth aged below 18.

A fact-finding team from the Evidence visited Tirunelveli on Wednesday and talked to the parents of the victim. The girl was working in a shop for a meagre salary. She had reasoned with the boy that she cannot marry him since they belonged to different communities. But the youth killed her.

Similar crimes

A teenaged Dalit boy and his younger sister were attacked by their schoolmates in Nanguneri on August 9. Five teenaged boys attacked a Dalit in Kazhugumalai on August 17. A four-member gang attacked a Dalit boy at Kolakaranpatti in Karur district. A 17-year-old Dalit boy was hacked by a juvenile at Ottapidaram on September 2.

The police registered cases, the juveniles obtained bail and sent to borstals.

But, a heinous crime should not get diluted just because the attacker was a juvenile, Mr. Kathir said and added that the government must examine the modalities to amend laws to this effect.

The police should register IPC Section 354 D against the accused in the October-2 murder. The Tamil Nadu government should give a compensation of ₹25 lakh to her family. The juvenile who killed her should not be granted bail.

Besides, all pending cases against Dalits should be taken up and chargesheets filed within a time frame. The cases should be taken up in trial courts and judgments delivered within 100 days, Mr Kathir added.