देश

Constable Vilas Shinde murder case: Accused juvenile to be tried as adult

The Juvenile Justice Court has reportedly given a go ahead to try a 17-year-old, who allegedly killed on-duty traffic police constable Vilas Shinde, as an adult.

The minor was stopped by Shinde for riding a bike, after which he with his elder brother rained blows on the constable, killing him. The August case had put the spotlight on the safety of on-duty policemen.

The Khar police arrested the siblings, and sought permission from the Juvenile Justice (JJ) court to try the 17-year-old as an adult.

“We have received permission from the court to try the 17-year-old as an adult given the heinous nature of the crime. The JJ court gave us the permission around a week back,” media reports quoted senior Inspector of Khar police station RS Jadhav. According to reports, he also added that the police had already filed a chargesheet against the brothers last month.

Now that the police has the permission, as per provisions of the new Juvenile Justice Act 2015, the offender’s case will be tried before a children’s court within the sessions court.

The police had charged the accused under sections 302 (murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code after Shinde succumbed to the head injuries he sustained nearly 10 days after the incident. The attack took place on August 23 at a petrol pump in Khar.

If found guilty, the juvenile will be sent to a special home till he is 21-years-old. After this, a reassessment will be done to determine if he should be rehabilitated further by being sent to an adult prison or released.