Jorabagan accused 6th minor held for murder in 4 months
Times of India | 3 November 2024
Kolkata: The 17-year-old minor apprehended on Friday for the murder of a 56-year-old man in Jorabagan is not the only one in conflict with the law. Since July, six minors, including this boy from Nadia, have been rounded up for murders. Given the gravity of the crimes, though all the six are below 18, police are looking at legal options to prosecute three of them as adults, with a meeting taking place between the police homicide section and the legal wing on Saturday for the Jorabagan accused.
The first incident this year, in which a minor was accused of murder, was reported in July when a 14-year-old girl from Thakurpukur and her 17-year-old boyfriend, who lived in Madhyamgram, had killed the girl's mother, obtained a death certificate from a doctor in Behala and cremated the body. They managed to keep everything under wraps till the girl's father, who was witness to the crime, finally confessed to neighbours and police.
Days later, in early Aug, a 17-year-old boy from Thakurpukur was apprehended for allegedly being involved in the murder of a girl in Behala and disposal of the body in a canal near Karunamoyee Bridge. The same month, another 17-year-old boy from Tiljala was apprehended for the twin murders of 55-year-old Rehana Parvin Begum and her grandson, Arif Alam (4). Within days, also in Aug, a 16-year-old boy was rounded up in a lynching case in Bhangar.
Police said they planned to prosecute three 17-year-old boys—the one from Thakurpukur, the one who helped murder his girlfriend's mother and the recent Jorabagan accused—as adults under the new laws of the country. "The Jorabagan murder accused is 17 years and 11 months old and is well aware of the facts. We are taking the help of psychiatrists to determine his mental age," said an officer.
Only recently, the Juvenile Justice Board in Kolkata issued a ruling in a 2018 case that a woman, who was 17 back then, should face a trial as an adult in an Alipore court for allegedly trafficking a 15-year-old girl. Following the Nirbhaya rape-and-murder case, legislation brought in by the Centre states that if a minor above 15 years is involved in a heinous crime, such as rape or murder, he or she can be tried as an adult at the special children's court and can be punished with imprisonment for up to 10 years.
Public prosecutor Sourin Ghosal pointed out that a minor above 15 years, accused of murder, could be tried as an adult under three circumstances: one, they should be physically strong enough to commit the murder; two, they should be mentally sound when committing the crime and three, they should understand the consequences of committing such a crime. "Usually, a psychiatrist carries out tests on the accused. The report is forwarded to the juvenile justice board. In all these cases, the reports will be submitted. The final decision on whether to try them as adults or not will have to wait till then," an officer said.