Accused turns 18 soon, police want to try him as adult

JAPANESE PARK DOUBLE MURDER

A DAY after apprehending a juvenile in connection with the double murder at the Japanese Park in Rohini, Delhi Police have decided to file a plea with the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to consider trying the boy as an adult. Stating that the boy is “17 years and 10 months old”, police said they will ask the JJB to refer the case to a sessions court.

DCP (Rohini district) M N Tiwari confirmed that the plea will be placed before the JJB. “Hours after he was detained, he disclosed the names of several persons and tried to implicate them. After a thorough investigation, we found that he was misleading us,” he said.

During investigation, police found that a few months ago, the juvenile had told some people in his village to give him “crime-related work as he would turn 18 on March 24”. “We are yet to find evidence to substantiate this claim,” Tiwari said.

Sources said the investigation agency will request the JJB to conduct a “preliminary assessment” of the mental and physical capacity of the boy “to understand the consequence of the offence”, and pass an order if there was a need to try him as an adult. “Once the plea is accepted, the designated sessions court will hear the case under the amended sections of the JJ (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015,” police sources added.

Accused says victims had been bullying him

According to police, the juvenile said the victims, Ashiv and Ankush, had been bullying him for the last three months . All three of them worked at butcher shops.

“They were having liquor at the park when Ankush began bullying the juvenile. The two got into a heated argument. The juvenile attacked Ankush with a meat cleaver, stabbing him five times. He then stabbed Ashiv when he tried to stop him, and fled the spot,” an officer said.

Shuaib Masoodi (Left) The home of Mohd Hussain Fazli; (above) Mohd Rafiq Shah’s home is empty, his parents are in Delhi.