The Centre has cold-shouldered the request of the parents of the December 16 gang-rape victim by refusing a re-trial of the juvenile accused before a criminal court.
In reply to the petition filed by the parents of the victim, the Ministry of Women and Child Development objected to their plea to try the juvenile, aged 17 at the time of the incident, by a criminal court. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, the delinquent offender had already been tried and sentenced to three years at a correction home by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), the Centre said in its affidavit. This was the maximum punishment available under the prevailing law.
It objected to the suggestion given by the victim’s parents to try the accused before a criminal court. Citing the constitutional bar under Article 20, the Centre indicated that the second proviso which reads as “No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once” prevented it from subjecting the juvenile to another trial for the same offence.
“Under Article 20 of the Constitution of India, as also Section 300 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), there can be no second trial for the same offence, and the adjudication of guilt of the juvenile offender having been determined by the JJB under JJ (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the second prayer does not survive, nor is sustainable,” the affidavit said. The Centre even criticized the parents for naming the juvenile in their petition. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Monday.
The Centre’s response came on an order passed by the apex court on December 2 last year seeking the response of the Centre on a plea by the para-medic’s parents, Badrinath Singh and Asha Devi. The court had also sought records including the statement of the victim implicating the juvenile offender in the gruesome crime.
Advocate Aman Hingorani, who is appearing for the parents, remained unperturbed by the Centre’s stand. He said that the Centre evaded a response on the main question of law “as the constitutional validity of JJ Act is under challenge for it barred jurisdiction of criminal courts over juveniles accused in serious crimes under IPC.”
The Centre, for its part, quoted a recent SC decision where the issue was considered and held that the age bar limiting definition of juveniles to those below 18 years cannot be altered.