A Juvenile Rape Accused Cannot Enjoy Protection of Juvenile Justice Act: Madhya Pradesh HC Bench at Indore
Last Updated on June 27, 2021 by Administrator
@sociolegalcorp Observing the inadequacy of present law to cope with atrocious crimes committed by juveniles, Madhya Pradesh High Court questioned legislature upon the non-implementation of strict laws to punish juveniles.
Stressing upon Nirbhaya Rape Case(Mukesh Singh v NCT of Delhi), Single-judge Justice Subodh Abhyankar mourned upon serious offences like rape being committed by juveniles. Although, certain changes have been made in law since 2015 but children below 16 are still treated as juveniles and enjoy the protection of Juvenile Justice Act.
The Court questioned, “How many more Nirbhayas’ sacrifice would be required to shake the conscious of the lawmakers of this Country?
In the present case, a 15 year old boy committed rape on a girl aged 10-11 years. getting raped by The accused was booked under Sections 346, 372 (2) (n), 506 and 376 (a) (b) of IPC and Section 5 (m) along with Section 6 of POCSO
Principal Magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board Jhabua and Sessions Judge rejected the bail plea of accused and the summoned person appealed the case in High Court. Understanding the seriousness of injuries caused to victim, the Court dismissed the bail plea of juvenile accused filed under Section 12 of Juvenile Justice Act.
The victim in her statement recorded under Section 161 of CrPC told that the petitioner accused had also raped her three days before the incident and threatened her of dire consequences on its disclosure .
Thus, the court came to conclusion that the petitioner had acted with full consciousness and it cannot be said to be an act committed in ignorance as observed by the Probationary Officer. The Court said, “An offence of rape, being carnal in nature, cannot be committed unless a person has the specific knowledge of the same”.
By Vanshika, student journalist (Bansthali Vidyapeeth)
