Juvenile board to decide on trial of Delhi gangrape accused

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) is likely to pronounce its verdict Thursday on whether the minor, an accused in the Dec 16 gangrape case, would be tried as an adult or a juvenile for his crime.

The minor, who was aged 17-and-half years at the time of the crime, would face a maximum sentence of three years, including the time already spent in custody, if he is tried as a juvenile for the crime. He turned 18 last month.

The family of the victim as well as social groups have been demanding that the juvenile accused should be tried and punished as an adult in view of the gravity of his crime.

A 23-year-old woman was gangraped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in Delhi Dec 16 last year. She later died in a Singapore hospital Dec 29. Six people, including the juvenile, were arrested in the case.