The Juvenile Justice Board on Wednesday ordered a 17-year-old from Delhi to face trial as an adult after he and his friends allegedly kidnapped and raped a minor in March this year, the first such case since the new Juvenile Justice Act was amended to allow for this form of legal action. According to the new law, the board was given special powers to try minors between the ages of 16 and 18 to be tried as adults for "heinous offences".
The board stated that the boy's crime was meticulously planned and rejected the counsel's version that he and the girl were in a consensual relationship. Arul Verma, the board's presiding officer, said, "There is not an iota of evidence that would lend credence to this assertion."
The boy and two others allegedly kidnapped the girl on March 31 and assaulted her in a Noida flat after forcing her to drink alcohol. In her complaint, the girl stated that she did not disclose the incident to anyone initially as the accused had allegedly recorded the act to blackmail her.
The case was transferred to the sessions court on the basis of a report submitted to the board by experts, who assessed the boy's mental and physical capacity. The report claimed he had been aware of the consequences of his actions as he had known enough to get the girl intoxicated before raping her.
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