The Hyderabad Police on Thursday, 9 June, said that it would push for the juveniles, accused of gang-raping a teenage girl in Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills, to be tried as adults to ensure that they were not given a lighter punishment on account of their age.
"We will request the Juvenile Justice Board for trial against the Juvenile Conflict with Law (JCL) as adults and not as minors to ensure they get maximum punishment, once we collect all the evidence against all the six accused, including five JCLs, in the Jubilee Hills minor gang-rape case," said Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, as per news agency ANI.
The police also asked the Juvenile Court to grant custody of the five minor accused persons, who are currently in an observation home.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader KT Rama Rao hailed the announcement by the police.
"I welcome & support the stand of the Telangana Police," he said on Twitter, adding, "If you are adult enough to commit a crime as heinous as rape, one must also be punished as an adult and not as a juvenile."
Meanwhile, six accused have been arrested in connection with the case, including five minors.
The Incident
A group of youngsters allegedly raped a minor girl inside an Innova car in Hyderabad on 28 May. The incident took place while the 17-year-old girl was returning from a party at a pub in Jubilee Hills. The survivor and the accused were attendees of a party hosted at a pub in Jubilee Hills.
The accused, who had already conspired to rape the survivor, offered to drop the girl home in their car, as per the police.
The survivor was first taken in a Mercedes car and was molested. Photographs of the accused persons kissing the survivor were taken inside the Mercedes. These photographs were later circulated. The survivor was later asked to board an Innova car where she was raped by five persons, including four minors.
The police on 31 May booked a case for "outraging the modesty of a woman" and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. After the survivor reported the sexual assault to the medical officer, the charge of rape was added to the case on 1 June.
The accused were also charged under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
(With inputs from ANI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)