The Telangana High Court recently set aside the decision of a Magistrate who found the juvenile accused in the Hyderabad Jubilee Hills gang rape case to be mentally and physically fit to be prosecuted as adults.
A bench of Justice G Anupama Chakravarthy observed that the entire assessment of accused persons was done within one day and proper reasons had not been assigned by the magistrate for her opinion.
“…proper reasons have not been assigned by the learned Magistrate as to how she has come to an opinion that they are able to understand the consequences of their acts,” noted the court.
The Court also highlighted that the Magistrate had deferred with the findings of the Juvenile Justice Board member and she had reached her conclusion after interacting with the accused persons herself.
The Court, therefore, deemed it appropriate to remand the matter back to the court of the Magistrate for a fresh enquiry as per Rule 10(5) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016.
“…the impugned order passed by the learned Magistrate, as well as the appellate Court, are hereby set aside and the matter is remanded back…for conducting fresh preliminary enquiry, after supplying copies of documents to the parties by 03.05.2023 and after giving opportunity to the CCLs as per aforesaid Rules,” the Court ordered.
On May 28, 2022, a teenage girl was allegedly gang-raped at Hyderabad’s upmarket Jubilee Hills. On the girl’s complaint, five boys aged between 16 and 17 were apprehended by the police while one 18-year-old man was also arrested.
The accused had allegedly met the victim at a non-alcoholic party at a pub and later offered her a ride back home. However, on the way home, at an isolated place, they raped the girl in a Toyota Innova car.
In her preliminary assessment order, the fifth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court–cum-Principal Magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board, Hyderabad, found the four minors capable of understanding the consequences of their actions and ordered them to be treated as adults for prosecution.
The order of the Magistrate was also confirmed by the Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge for the Trial of Cases under POCSO Sexual Offences, Hyderabad.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment