Kathua gangrape: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that one of the accused in the Kathua gangrape case of an eight year old girl was not a juvenile at the time of the crime and would be tried afresh as an adult for his offence.
The top court also saod that medical opinion in this regard cannot be “brushed aside” in the absence of statutory proof on the issue.
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Minor accused
Notably, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kathua as well as the high court had ordered to treat Shubam Sangra, the ‘minor’ accused in the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old, as a juvenile in the case.
The Supreme Court set aside the previously issued orders regarding Sangra’s age and said that the medical opinion regarding the age of an accused cannot be “brushed aside” and is considered on the basis of the evidence available.
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Medical opinion
A bench comprising of Justices Ajay Rastogi and J B Pardiwala said, “Medical opinion regarding age in absence of any other conclusive evidence should be considered to determine the age range of the accused…Whether medical evidence can be relied upon or not depends on the value of evidence.”
“We set aside the judgements of the CJM Kathua and the high court and hold that the accused was not a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offence,” Justice Pardiwala said while pronouncing the verdict, as per PTI reports.
An eight year old girl was gang raped and murdered brutally in Kathua in the most harrowing manner. The minor girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, and was raped in captivity in a small village temple after keeping her sedated for four days. She was later bludgeoned to death.
A special court on June 10, 2019, sentenced three men to life imprisonment till their last breath for the ghastly crime that shook the nation.
However, the trial against Sangra was shifted to the Juvenile Justice Board.
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