Karuvatta Murder Case: Juvenile Justice Board Allows Police Custody of Three Minor Boys in Rare Move

Alappuzha: The Alappuzha Juvenile Justice Board has ordered that three minor boys accused in the case of murdering an elderly man and stealing his gold at Karuvatta be handed over to police custody. The decision is considered unusual as all three boys accused of carrying out the murder are minors. Even in the Delhi Nirbhaya case, the minor accused was not given into police custody. The board took the exceptional step after rejecting the argument that the Juvenile Justice Act contains no provision for placing minors in police custody and that there are no precedents for such an order.

As the Juvenile Justice Act does not contain a provision specifically allowing children to be placed in police custody, the board accepted the prosecution’s request to hand them over for evidence collection under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. The Juvenile Justice Act only states that children should not be kept in police lock-ups or jails. The prosecution argued that since the Act has no specific provision regarding police custody, the relevant provision of the BNSS should be considered and the children should be handed over for investigation. The Juvenile Justice Board accepted the prosecution’s argument that the case could become weaker if the boys were not handed over for evidence collection, as there were no eyewitnesses.

The Juvenile Justice Board will also consider on Monday the application seeking permission to question a 13-year-old girl who is accused of planning the crime. The investigating team has submitted to the board a report prepared on the basis of scientific evidence and statements. The board will consider this report before passing its order.

Police have recovered the stolen gold, but have not been able to find the gloves allegedly used in the murder. The prosecution said the boys needed to be taken into custody to recover the gloves and collect further scientific evidence. It also argued that the chargesheet could not be effectively proved in court unless the accused were taken to the crime scene and the evidence collection process was completed.

The boys were questioned in the presence of the District Probation Officer, as permitted by the Juvenile Justice Board.

The questioning was completed over two days, taking a total of 10.5 hours. The separate application seeking permission to question the 13-year-old girl was filed subsequently. The girl is currently staying at a Social Welfare Department facility in Kozhikode, while the boys have been placed at a protection centre in Maithara, Cherthala.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Manu Kallampally appeared for the prosecution, while Chief Defence Counsel T T Sudheesh represented the accused.