JUVENILE DEFENDANT

In the 33-page charge sheet, the Delhi Police described the juvenile as the most brutal of the six accused. The accused was declared as 17 years and six months old on the day of the crime by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which relied on his birth certificate and school documents. The JJB rejected a police request for a bone ossification (age determination) test for a positive documentation of his age. On 28 January, the juvenile was declared to be a juvenile by the JJB. A petition moved by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking the prosecution of the minor as an adult because of the ghastly nature of his alleged crime was rejected by the JJB.[82][83][84] The minor was tried separately in a juvenile court. A verdict in the case was scheduled to be announced on 25 July 2013, but was deferred until 5 August and then deferred again to 19 August. On 31 August, the juvenile was convicted of rape and murder under the Juvenile Justice Act and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility, inclusive of the eight months he spent in remand during the trial.