Police will move juvenile justice board to treat 16-year-old rape accused as adult
NEWDELHI:Police on Saturday said they will approach the Juvenile Justice Board and seek permission to treat the 16-year-old boy, accused of allegedly kidnapping, raping, murdering and then trying to bury his 4-year-old minor neighbour, as an adult.
The incident was reported from a construction site in outer Delhi’s Narela.
Senior police officers said that the crime of the teenager was heinous and could be classified as “rarest of rare”. They said that an application will soon be moved before the chairman of the JJB to seek consent to deprive the accused of benefits and reliefs that are usually bestowed on apprehended juveniles who are in conflict with the law.
MN Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini), confirmed that the force was planning to move the application before the JJB at the earliest. Investigators said they were in the process of establishing the actual age of the teenager who was apprehended from the crime scene by locals.
“A team will be sent to his hometown in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, to collect his educational certificates and other documents that can help us in ascertaining his age,” said an investigator, adding that the teenager was working at the construction site for the past six months and lived alone in a makeshift single room accommodation provided to workers by the construction company.
Some workers, who were witness to the crime, told HT that the boy had recently purchased a smartphone. They alleged that the boy was often seen watching porn video clips on his phone. A few of them even accused him of allegedly showing adult clips to children. “When we informed the police team about porn clips on his phone, they searched his room and seized the phone along with other items,” said Riyaz, a neighbour.
Sources said investigators scanned the phone and did stumble upon some porn videos on it.
Police said that the crime came to light when the girl’s friend, a boy with whom she was playing earlier, heard her scream and alerted some locals. The child told police that the teenager had given him a five rupee note, that later turned out to be a fake, and asked him to stay quiet as he lured the girl inside the under construction flat. He was also asked to sit outside and alert him if he spotted any security guards coming. The child also told police that the accused had lured the girl with a ten rupee note and had promised to give her a chocolate, which he said was kept inside the bathroom of the flat.
A team will be sent to his home town in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, to collect his educational certificates and other documents that can help us in ascertaining his (the accused 16yrold) age