Kollam: Minor booked for raping teen

KOLLAM: A 13-year-old boy who allegedly impregnated a 15-year-old girl in Pathanapuram was booked by the Police. The boy, studying in Standard VIII, was produced before the Juvenile Justice Court and sent with his parents on bail.
Meanwhile, legal experts are of different opinions about blaming the boy alone, who is younger than the girl, for the crime. The incident came to light when the girl, a ninth Standard student and the boy’s neighbour, gave birth to a baby at her house earlier this week. The girl had developed pain and was taken to a private hospital nearby where she was found to be pregnant.

The girl refused to take expert medical care and gave birth to a baby in her house. She has given a statement to the Police that the 13-year-old boy fathered her baby. He has been charged with sections of IPC and POCSO Act. The Police has registered a case against the boy alone, even though both are minors. “In such cases, when both are minors, booking the boy alone is debatable as it falls under ‘juvenile in conflict with the law’. Here, the girl is older than the boy and it could be argued that both are equally responsible under the POCSO Act,” a lawyer told DC. Meanwhile, the Police will also go for a legal opinion before proceeding with legal action against the girl. The DNA samples of the less-than-a-week baby and that of the boy have been collected and sent for analysis to the Thiruvananthapuram Forensic Sciences Laboratory.