The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that one of the accused in the Kathua gang rape case would be tried as an adult and not as a minor. The court held that the accused in the sensational gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua was not a juvenile at the time of the offence and now can be tried afresh as an adult.
"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 J B Pardiwala said.
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The court order set aside the Jammu and Kashmir High Court's order on March 27, 2018, declaring to treat the accused, Shubam Sangra, as a juvenile.
"We set aside the judgements of the CJM Kathua and the high court and hold that the accused was not a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offence," Justice Pardiwala said while pronouncing the verdict.
The top court, on February 7, 2020, had stayed the proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) against Sangra.
It had stayed the proceedings after the Jammu and Kashmir administration claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had erroneously affirmed the order of a trial court holding him as a juvenile at the time of the offence in 2018.
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The minor girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018 and raped in the captivity of a temple and later bludgeoned to death.
