The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the go-ahead to the Juvenile Justice Board to pronounce the verdict against the lone juvenile accused in the December 16 Delhi gang rape case. The court, however, set out to examine whether minors who commit heinous offences should be tried by normal courts.
The PIl filed by former Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy had raised objection to the Delhi gang rape accused being enquired by a Juvenile Board. In his view, the nature of the crime and the gruesome manner in which it was executed were essential considerations to disentitle the protection under the Juvenile Act.
Without restricting the issue to the Delhi incident alone, the bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam delved deep into the matter and discovered that the issues decided in the PIl had far reaching implications on all juvenile offenders. “If this Court is to interpret the provisions of the Act in the manner sought by the petitioners, the possible effect thereof in so far as the first respondent (accused) is concerned will pale into insignificance,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi.