Delhi gang-rape: Verdict in juvenile`s case deferred again

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Verdict in the December 16 gang-rape and robbery case involving a minor was again deferred on Monday by the Juvenile Justice Board. The judgement was deferred till August 31 pursuant to a direction of the Supreme Court. The SC had asked the JJB presided over by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel not to pronounce its order till it decides a petition concerning the interpretation of the term "juvenile". They board today also deferred its order on sentence against the juvenile in a case in which he was earlier convicted for robbing a carpenter onboard the bus before allegedly assaulting the girl and her friend on the night of December 16, last year. The JJB`s order was put off in the light of the plea of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for a fresh interpretation of the term `juvenile` which he raised in the wake of the December 16 incident in which the 23-year-old was brutally gang-raped and assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29 leading to slapping of charge of murder against the juvenile and other co-accused. The apex court had on July 31 asked Swamy to inform the JJB not to pronounce its verdict on the alleged role of the minor in the December 16 gang-rape and murder case, till it decides the PIL. Swamy has sought that the "mental and intellectual maturity" should be considered instead of age limit of 18 years for such offenders while fixing their culpability and contended that his plea would become infructuous if the JJB went ahead with pronouncement of its verdict. (With PTI inputs)