In an unprecedented ruling, the teenager will face trial for 'heinous' crime
New Delhi: In a first, a teenager, who allegedly ran over a 32-year-old marketing executive while driving his father's Mercedes, will now face trial as an adult after the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Saturday said the offence allegedly committed by him was "heinous". The presiding officer of the JJB passed the order on the application of Delhi Police which had sought transfer of the case to trial court to try the accused as an adult.
It is the first of its kind case since the amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which allowed the Board to transfer cases of heinous offences by children to the Sessions court. As per Section 2(33) of the Act, "heinous offences" include the offences for which minimum punishment under IPC or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more.
ADVERTISEMENT
The police had on May 26 charged the juvenile in the JJB with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The offence entails a maximum of 10 years in jail. The JJB had reserved its order on Friday after hearing for over an hour arguments by Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, who had said the boy belongs to the age group of 16-18, and this offence comes under definition of "heinous crimes" so his case should be transferred to the trial court.
The JJB on Saturday accepted the argument and allowed the plea of Delhi Police, Shrivastava said. Initially, a case under IPC sections 304 A (causing death by rash or negligent act) was lodged against the teenager but later on he was booked for the alleged offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sent to the reform home. The police had said in its chargesheet that the boy had fatally run over victim Siddharth Sharma with his father's Mercedes when Sharma was trying to cross a road in north Delhi on April 4.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
