At the time of the incident, the juvenile was 17 years, 11 months and 21 days old.
Varanasi: The court of Special Judge Exclusive ( Pocso Act )/Additional District and Sessions Judge Nitin Pandey on Thursday sentenced a juvenile offender, tried as an adult, to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment in connection with the murder and robbery of a truck driver. After hearing the arguments and examining the evidence presented by special public prosecutor Santosh Kumar Singh, the court held the juvenile guilty under sections 302 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code. After the murder, he fled with the victim’s mobile phone and ₹43,200 in freight money. The Board then ordered, under section 18(3) of the Juvenile Justice Act, that he be tried as an adult before the sessions court/children’s court. The court sentenced the juvenile offender to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹40,000 under section 302 IPC. He was also sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹10,000 under section 394 IPC.
The case was registered at Cholapur police station. The investigation found that during the night, the truck’s helper, a juvenile, killed the driver following a dispute by attacking him with a wheel spanner and a knife. The court directed that the primary responsibility for payment of the fine would rest with the juvenile offender’s natural guardians, his parents.