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Delhi gangrape: SC notice to Centre on plea seeking no leniency for minor
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre and ministries of law and justice and home affairs on a bunch of petitions seeking amendments in the Juvenile Justice Act and also a direction not to release the minor accused in the recent Delhi gangrape case. Bhadra Sinha reports.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre and ministries of law and justice and home affairs on a bunch of petitions seeking amendments in the Juvenile Justice Act and also a direction not to release the minor accused in the recent Delhi gangrape case.
A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra sought the response on three different petitions, praying to carve out an exception not to grant protection to minors involved in heinous crimes.
One of the petitions has also sought the appointment of a criminal psychologist to examine the juvenile arrested for the gang-rape-cum-murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student.
In a public interest litigation filed by Salil Bali, the apex court has been urged to direct the Centre to strike down the section defining “juvenile”.
A resident of Chandigarh, Bali claimed the law was aimed at benefiting juveniles who were immature children.
He has prayed for an exception to be made in the act so that it is applied depending upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case irrespective of the age of an accused, that is below 18 years.
Another PIL, filed by software engineer Shilpa Arora Sharma, has prayed for the examination of the juvenile accused in the gang rape case by a criminal psychologist.
Sharma, who researched on psychopaths as a law student, claimed that the teenager nabbed could be an abnormal person and a fatal threat for the society.
“This juvenile poses a big threat with his suspected mental condition to the society as the Juvenile Justice Act may allow him to return freely to the society with undisclosed identity,” Sharma’s PIL stated.
Sharma added that crime prevention should be one of the key factors while ascertaining punishment.
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