Kathua rape and murder case: SC orders one of the accused be tried as adult and not minor

New Delhi: Supreme Court has ordered that one of the accused be tried as an adult and not as a minor offender in the 2018 Kathua rape case. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and JB Pardiwala ruled that medical evidence proved that the accused had attained 18 years of age at the time of the commission of offence and medical opinion will be considered as conclusive evidence in the absence of any other proof. “A 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 the evidence. Thus, order passed by CJM Kathua is set aside and thus the accused is held not to be a juvenile at the time of crime,” the Court said. Earlier in 2019, the Juvenile Justice Board in Kathua in the Jammu region had initiated the trial but the crime branch had said it was not ready to proceed as the status of the accused as a minor was not decided. The crime branch had said that the police had approached the high court challenging an order of the chief judicial magistrate in which the accused had been declared as a juvenile. On 15 July 2019, the special public prosecutor had informed the board that the high court was yet to pass its verdict on the crime branch’s plea against the decision of a Kathua court which accepted the claim of the accused that he is a minor. The crime branch also annexed a report of the medical board of the Government Medical College, Jammu, which said the accused was “not less than 19 and not more than 21” years of age. An 8-year-old child belonging to the nomadic Bakerwal community in Jammu’s Kathua was raped and murdered. The victim was found dead on 17 January 2018. The trial court in Pathankot had convicted 6 out of the 7 accused in the case and acquitted one, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Accused Shubham Sangra was being tried before Juvenile Justice Board when the Supreme Court stayed those proceedings in February 2020 after J&K moved the present plea. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.