In a significant development in the Jubilee Hills gangrape case, the Juvenile Justice Board in Hyderabad pronounced that the four Children in Conflict with Law (CCLs) charged with gangrape can be tried as adults. The board said this is because the alleged offences against them are heinous in nature, and CCLs were aged about 16 to 18 years at the time of the incident. The fifth CCL, the son of an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislator facing molestation charges in the case, will be tried as a juvenile.
On Friday, September 30, Radhika Gavvala, the Fifth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate cum Principal Magistrate of the Juvenile Justice Board, Hyderabad, passed a preliminary assessment order to this effect under Section 18(3) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. A total of six persons were booked in the case, including five CCLs and an adult named Saduddin Malik.
The gangrape happened on May 28. Following the arrests of all the six youth involved, the Telangana police decided to file a petition with the Juvenile Justice Board to treat the five CCLs as adults during the trial, to ensure that they get the maximum punishment. Four of the CCLs, including the MLA’s son, are 16 years old, and one of them is 17 years old. The board conducted a preliminary assessment of the four CCLs charged with gangrape, but not of the MLA’s son, as the offences alleged against him are not heinous, the order said.
The assessment was done by mental health professionals as well as the Principal Magistrate of the Juvenile Justice Board. “I interacted with [the four CCLs] separately to assess their mental and physical capacity to commit the alleged offences and the ability to understand the consequences of the offences and also circumstances in which they allegedly committed the offences,” the Principal Magistrate said in the order. The order mentioned that based on the interactions, it was observed that the four CCLs were from well-to-do families, were involved in academic and/or extracurricular activities, had no traumatic experiences or neglect from their families, and were capable of understanding the consequences of their actions.
While a board member who also interacted with the CCLs said in her report that they “may have been lured by the welcoming approach of the victim and that the CCLs do not have legal education and hence [were] unable to understand the legal consequences,” the Principal Magistrate in her order said she differed with this observation. “Whether the victim lured the CCLs or not is an issue of fact and cannot be determined at this stage. This is only an enquiry to assess the physical and mental ability of the CCLs and to assess whether they understand the consequences of the offence or not,” the order said.
The Principal Magistrate said that based on her interactions with the CCLs, she was of the opinion that they “have mental and physical capacity and also understand the consequences of the offence. They were not under the influence of alcohol or other substances. There were no compelling circumstances in which the CCLs allegedly committed the offence. Hence, I am of the opinion that the CCLs should be tried as adults having regard to the gravity of the offence alleged against them.”
The case pertaining to these four CCLs has been transferred to the Nampally Children’s Court for trial. All five CCLs were released on bail in the last week of July, while Saduddin Malik was granted bail on August 3.
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