Bengaluru: A minor has been convicted and remanded in Boys’ Observation Home for three years in connection with a rape and murder case that was reported in Hebbagodi police station limits on the outskirts of the city on May 31 early this year.
The minor is aged sixteen-and-a-half years and has been convicted for raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl. The girl’s father, Chauhan a BMTC conductor, was staying alone at a rented house in Old Chandapura, while his family members were staying at their hometown Vijayapura (Bijapur). As the children were having school vacation in May, Chauhan’s wife and kids had come to visit him.
On May 31 evening, the accused boy, who was working in a garment factory near Chauhan’s house, lured the girl by offering her mangoes and took her to a dilapidated school building behind Old Chandapura bus stand. There he raped the girl and she bled to death.
When she failed return home, her parents started searching for her. The girl’s sister informed her parents that she had seen her with a boy in the evening. When her parents questioned the boy, he had said he had no idea about the girl. The parents then filed a missing complaint with the police. The police picked up the boy for questioning and he confessed to have raped the girl, and she died of shock and bleeding. Based on the information provided by him, the body was found in the toilet of the school building.
The Hebbagodi police later filed a chargesheet after completion of investigation. As the accused was a minor, the case was heard by the Juvenile Justice Board in Madiwala. The Board found the boy guilty in the incident and remanded him to Boys’ Observation Home for three years.
Peer influence a major factor: Study
Bengaluru: More than 60 per cent of the crimes committed by the juveniles were either out of peer influence or adult influence, says a study made by a city based NGO Bosco, which works with street children and also assists the police through Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU). While the peer influence takes the larger share (53.5 per cent), the adult influence on crimes committed by juveniles is 10 per cent.
The study focused on understanding the profile of children in conflict with law, type of offences they committed, and density of offence within a period of one year from June 2013 to May 2014 in two police divisions namely the South and the West. “The study revealed interesting findings that can be carried forward to focus and adopt reformatory and rehabilitative measures to bring these juveniles to mainstream,” said Fr George, Director Bosco at a book release on Thursday.
