Nalanda Juvenile Justice Board awards two accused 3 years for gang rape

BIHARSHARIF: Showing no leniency towards two minor offenders charged with kidnapping and gang-raping a minor girl along with an adult accused, the Nalanda Juvenile Justice Board principal judge, Manvendra Mishra, on Saturday awarded them three years of imprisonment under various sections of IPC and the Pocso Act.
The duo was awarded three years under Section 376, one year under Section 506/34 of IPC and three years each under Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act, 2012.All punishments to run concurrently.
The adult accused in the crime, which took place at a village under Hilsa police station in May 2020, is facing trial at a sessions court. As the minors were arrested and sent to a reformatory days after the crime, the JJB court said the time they spent at the reformatory home should be deducted from the punishment awarded to them.
According to additional public prosecutor Rajesh Pathak, the grandfather of the survivor said three boys abducted her at knife's edge and took turns to rape her at a nearby cornfield, when she had gone to relieve herself on May 21, 2020. The FIR with Biharsharif women's police station was lodged on May 22.
He said the sessions court transferred the case of minors to JJB on June 3, 2020, while the charge sheets against them were filed on September 3.
The judge also directed the Nalanda reformatory to ensure that one of the convicts, who passed the intermediate (science) examination with 70% marks, is admitted to B.Sc part one at Nalanda College and all study materials provided to him before he is shifted to a Patna home for boys.
JJB member Dharmendra Kumar said the JJB court always takes a sympathetic view with minors involved in petty crimes but it is tough with those who commit a heinous crime like this.