The Supreme Court on Wednesday restricted the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) from delivering its verdict on the alleged role of a minor in the infamous December 16 gangrape-murder case till it decides a PIL seeking stricter punishment for minors involved in heinous crimes by fresh interpretation of the term “juvenile”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam asked Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who has filed the public interest litigation (PIL), to inform the same to the JJB and posted his case for hearing on August 14.
Mr Swamy has sought that the “mental and intellectual maturity” of minor offenders be considered instead of the age limit of 18 years while fixing their culpability in criminal cases.
Advocate Anoop Bhambani, appearing for the juvenile, opposed Mr Swamy’s plea and sought more time to file response to his petition.
The Centre also opposed Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s plea, saying a third party should not intervene in a criminal case and any decision taken by the apex court in this case cannot be applied retrospectively. The bench, however, said the issue raised in the petition needs to be examined along with maintainability of the plea.
After the apex court had on July 23 agreed to hear his plea, the JJB had deferred till August 5 the pronouncement of its verdict on the alleged involvement of the juvenile accused in the December 16 gangrape and murder case.
The JJB has already convicted the juvenile for robbing a carpenter along with the other adult co-accused by luring him into the same bus in which the girl was gangraped and assaulted.
The Juvenile Justice Board, however, has also deferred till August 5 the pronouncement of sentence in the robbery case.
The juvenile was one of six persons who had allegedly gangraped a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus here, according to the prosecution.