Hyderabad gang rape: Police to push for trying five minor accused as adults to ensure 'maximum punishment'

Following the amendments to the Juvenile Act, minors aged 16-18 can be tried as adults if they are accused of a “heinous crime”.

The Hyderabad Police will push for five accused in the Jubilee Hills minor gang rape case to be tried as adults in order to “ensure maximum punishment”, news agency ANI quoted police commissioner CV Anand. Five of the six accused in the incident that occurred on May 28 are under the age of 18.

A 17-year-old girl was gang raped in Hyderabad's upscale Jubilee Hills on May 28.(ANI)

“We will request the Juvenile Justice Board for trial against Juvenile Conflict with Law as adults. We want to ensure maximum punishment. Request will be made once all evidence is collected against accused in Jubilee Hills minor gang rape case,” Anand was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015, were cleared by Parliament and received President Ram Nath Kovind's assent last year. Under the new norms, minors aged 16-18 can be tried as adults if they are accused of a “heinous crime”, which can attract a maximum jail term of seven years.

In any other scenario as per the 2015 Act, a juvenile cannot be sentenced for more than three years.

However, for a juvenile to be tried as an adult, the mental status of accused; capability to understand the situation and consequences of the crime, need to be assessed before the court can make a decision.

This latest development comes a day after a metropolitan magistrate court at Nampally criminal court complex in Hyderabad granted police three-day custody of Saduddin Malik (18), the primary accused in the gang rape case. He was nabbed by the Jubilee Hills police on June 3 and was remanded in judicial custody the next day in Chanchalguda jail. He is the only adult among the six accused arrested in the case so far. The five other accused - all juveniles - held between June 4 and 7, were sent to the custody of the juvenile court.

The police filed a petition on Tuesday (June 7) stating that they needed Malik's custody for seven days to obtain more details about the incident, but the court granted them three days.

One of the five accused juveniles is the son of a legislator belonging to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a senior police official on the condition of anonymity told HT. The names of all the juveniles, however, have not been disclosed by police.