In the first such case, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Saturday allowed the plea of the Delhi police to try a teenager involved in a hit-and-run on April 4 as an adult.
In the first such case, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Saturday allowed the plea of the Delhi police to try a teenager involved in a hit-and-run on April 4 as an adult.
The teenager allegedly ran over a 32-year-old man while driving his father’s luxury car. He turned 18 just four days after the incident. The JJB noted that the crime committed by the teenager was heinous.
This is the first such case since the amendment in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which allows the board to transfer cases of heinous offences by juveniles to the sessions court.
As per Section 2(33) of the Act, “heinous offences” include those for which the minimum punishment under the IPC or any other law in force is imprisonment for seven years or more.
The police had on May 26 chargesheeted the juvenile in the JJB for the of-fence of culpable homicide not amounting to mu-rder. The offence entails a maximum of 10 years jail.
Shilpa Mittal, the accident victim’s sister, expressed satisfaction over the order passed by the JJB. “I wish I do not face trouble in court now,” she said and voiced hope that the criminal court too would “do justice like the JJB”.
The JJB had reserved its order on Friday after hearing for over an hour arguments by special public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, who had said that the boy belonged to the age group of 16-18 years and this offence comes under definition of “heinous crimes” so his case should be transferred to the trial court.
Initially, a case under IPC Sections 304A (causing death by rash or negligent act) was lodged against the teenager but later on he was booked for the alleged offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sent to the reform home.
The police had said in its chargesheet that the boy had fatally run over the victim, Siddharth Sharma, with his father’s Mercedes when Sharma was trying to cross a road .
