Rape victim's mother contests juvenile order, HC issues notice

The Delhi High Court has sought responses from the city police and two accused on an appeal filed against a trial court order declaring one of them a juvenile in a five-year-old girl's rape case.
Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice to the Delhi police and the accused -- Manoj Shah and the juvenile -- while hearing the plea filed by the girl's mother against transfer of the case to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on April 12.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on September 20.
"The order declaring one of the accused a juvenile is bad in law and unsustainable on multiple grounds," the girl's mother said in her petition filed through advocate Prabhsahay Kaur.

She said the ossification test conducted in 2014, according to which the age of the accused was 20-22 years, was completely ignored by the trial court.
The test concluded the age of the accused was 20-22 years. Even if the benefit of one year was granted to the accused, he would still be a major. His age was not found to be borderline, leaving no scope of doubt on his juvenility, Kaur, who was assisted by advocate Shilpa Dewan, submitted.

The plea challenged the trial court's decision to transfer the case solely on the basis of a headmaster's statement, who claimed to be the in-charge of the school where the juvenile had studied, in the nature of a mere declaration.

"In stark contrast to a certificate, the letter/statement from the in-charge/headmaster was in the nature of a mere declaration, which cannot be a deciding factor for date of birth, especially in view of the fact that the headmaster/ in-charge himself admitted that he was not in the school at the time the accused was stated to be studying," the plea said.
The petition contended that the sessions judge failed to complete the trial of the case, registered in 2013, within a year as mandated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) but took three years to merely decide an application of juvenility of the accused.

Manoj, lodged in judicial custody, and the juvenile are accused of raping the girl and shoving off foreign objects in her private parts on April 15, 2013 in the Gandhi Nagar area in East Delhi. The juvenile is facing trial before the JJB here.
The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013. 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.
The police said 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 doctors during recording of their statements in the court.

Earlier, the court had recorded the statements of the child and her parents.
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 POCSO Act which entails a maximum punishment of life term.
Charges of rape and unnatural offence were also slapped on the two accused by the court as these two sections were not invoked by the police in its charge sheet.