Supreme Court Declined Bail To 16-Year-Old Accused Of Raping Minor Girl

16-year-old Rape Accused: The Supreme Court declined the bail to the 16-year-old accused of allegedly raping a 14-year-old. Even though the medical reports, prima facia appeared to be in the favour of the accused minor boy, the Supreme Court has insisted that the survivor must be examined completely due to the intensity of the nature of the crime.

According to the lawyer representing the accused Advocate Manu Yadav, the High Court ignored the statutory mandate in the Juvenile Justice Act for the age group of 16-18 years. The mandate states that a minor must be released on bail irrespective of the crime being a cognisable or a non-cognisable offence.

He said, "It is a mandatory provision. He is a school going boy and is entitled to bail."

The bench decided that due to the serious nature of the crime, it would be prudent to wait till the trail court recorded the testimony of the 14-year-old survivor.

The court told the 16-year-old rape accused, "You wait till the rape survivor is examined by the trial court. You can renew your bail plea after she has been examined by the trial court."

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India, CV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant said," The nature of the crime is such that it would be imprudent to grant the bail to the boy at this stage. You wait till the rape survivor is examined by the trial court. You can renew your bail plea after she has been examined by the trial court. "

Further, Yadav argued that as most trial courts are taking time due to the physical hearing being close, the bench said that the High Court has fixed a time frame within which the trial court can process. The Bench also directed the trial court to strictly adhere to the one-year time period given by the High Court.