Kalyan’s killer teenager may be the first to be tried as an adult
Image Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror.
In a first, Thane Police will be writing to the Juvenile Justice Board to try a double murder accused 16-year-old as an adult.
The teenager was arrested by Thane Police for the murder of Deepak Bhoir, a watchman in Shahad, on April 10 and for hacking to death 22-year-old mechanical engineer & an aspiring cop Priya Daravde during a burglary at her house in Kalyan on April 14.
The 16-year-old, who was part of a violent gang that committed burglaries in Kalyan and nearby localities, has confessed before the police that he sexually abused Daravde for 20 to 30 minutes after killing her with a sword.
He has also admitted to have attempted two more killings in the past.
Considering the seriousness and number of crimes that he has committed, the Thane Police has decided to approach the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Boards to allow them to treat him as an adult and build a case against him accordingly.
For the first time in the country a police unit has decided to file such a plea after the Juvenile Justice Act was amended last year to enable authorities to try 16-year-olds and those aged above as adults for heinous crimes.
The amended Juvenile Justice Act was strengthened after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case, in which one of the accused was a minor and was released after only a three-year sentence at a correctional facility.
