Rape of five-yr-old: Accused claims to be juvenile

A Delhi court has directed the Tihar Jail Superintendent to produce before it the report of ossification test of one of the two youths who claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of his arrest in the rape case of a five-year-old girl here last year.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg asked the jail official to bring on April 7 the result of ossification test, which was conducted to determine the age of accused Pradeep Kumar, on the directions of the court.
Pradeep, in his juvenility plea filed through advocate Shalu Jain, contended that he was a minor when he was arrested from Bihar last April.

The counsel said Pradeep does not have any age proof to substantiate his claim.
The court is at present recording statements of prosecution witnesses.
Manoj Shah and Kumar, now in judicial custody, are accused of raping the girl on April 15, 2013 in Gandhi Nagar area in East Delhi.

The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17. The accused had fled after committing the crime, leaving the girl behind in Manoj's room believing her to be dead. They were later arrested from Bihar.
Police said that some foreign material--three pieces of a candle and one hair oil bottle--was also taken out from the body of the victim and this was also proved by the doctors during recording of their statements in the court.

Earlier, the court had recorded the statements of the child and her parents. The minor's testimony was recorded through video conferencing.
The court had earlier framed charges of raping a minor, unnatural offence, kidnapping, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful confinement with common intention under the IPC against the two accused.
It had also framed charges of aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act which entails a maximum punishment of life term.
Charges of rape and unnatural offence were slapped against the two accused by the court as these two sections were not invoked by the police in its charge sheet.