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The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that one of the accused in the gang-rape and murder trial of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua was not a juvenile and can now be prosecuted again as an adult.
The top court further stated that in the absence of statutory proof on the same problem, medical opinions on an accused person’s age cannot be “swept aside”, news agency PTI reported.
“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 evidence,” a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and JB Pardiwala said.
It reversed the rulings of the high court and the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kathua, which had determined that the accused was a minor and needed to be tried separately.
“We set aside the judgments of the CJM Kathua and the high court and hold that the accused was not a juvenile at the time of commission of offence,” Justice Pardiwala said while pronouncing the verdict.
The girl was raped in a Kathua village in 2019. Three men were given life sentences in this case by a special court in June 2019, and three police officers received five-year sentences for evidence destruction. However, the Juvenile Justice Board was given the case against one of the accused.
(With inputs from agencies)
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