Hyderabad gangrape case: Police push for 5 minors to be tried as adults for 'maximum punishment'

Six people, five between the ages of 16 and 18, have been arrested for the Hyderabad gang rape of a teenage girl. Out of six persons who have been arrested, the police will fight for the five under-18 accused to be tried as adults instead of receiving a lower sentence because they are minors.

After a 2015 modification to the Juvenile Justice Act, those aged 16-18 accused of a "heinous offence," defined as a crime punishable by at least seven years in prison, might do so. The police will demand this in court, as per the Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, "to guarantee maximum punishment."

A juvenile cannot be sentenced to more than three years in prison under any circumstances. In this case, all five minors are between the ages of 16 and 18, with one of them just a month short of becoming 18. Three of the minors have political ties.

However, before a court can decide to consider such accused as adults, the Act establishes three criteria: mental and physical capability, ability to understand consequences, and the circumstances of the offence.

Five of the six people were allegedly involved in a car rape, while one of the underage boys was seen misbehaving with the girl but did not commit rape, according to the police.
 
Previously Anand stated that strict portions of the law had been invoked, adding that the punishment could include life in jail or perhaps death.

On May 28, the girl and her attackers met at a pub in Hyderabad's affluent Jubilee Hills for a party. Two minors had reserved the space for a party before the schools resumed. They allegedly booked the tickets for 900 to 1,000 each person and sold them for 1,300 each.

The girl was at the party with a companion who departed early, and she later met the bunch that raped her inside a Toyota Innova later that evening. Her statement was taped in front of a magistrate. 

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