Father of 13-year-old sexual assault victim seeks change of court trying six juvenile offenders

The father of a 13-year-old girl subjected to aggravated sexual assault by 15 persons, including six juveniles, has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to transfer the trial from the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Chengalpattu to the JJB in Chennai since the former lacks victim-friendly facilities.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar on Wednesday heard the preliminary submissions made by the petitioner’s counsel Deepika Murali and adjourned the further hearing of the plea to Monday since he required time to go through all the documents submitted by the petitioner.

According to the prosecution, the petitioner, suffering from multiple sclerosis to the extent of 90% as per medical assessment, was employed in a private establishment and used to work on night shifts. He lived in a rented house along with his wife, a homemaker, and their only child studying in class VIII.

One of the juvenile offenders involved in the case was the victim’s neighbour. He had subjected her to aggravated sexual assault for the first time when her parents were not at home in August 2024. He and his adult friend had subjected the child to aggravated sexual assault once again in October 2024 and recorded a video.

Thereafter, in November 2024, all six juveniles, along with the other accused, had subjected the girl child to aggravated sexual assault and even this act was recorded on their mobile phones. While all juvenile offenders were school dropouts, one of the adult offender was a student of fashion designing.

It was only in May 2025 that the child’s father came to know about the incidents, after his daughter was found to be pregnant by seven months. On May 13, 2025, Justice V. Lakshminarayanan of the Madras High Court ordered termination of the pregnancy after taking note that the gestational age of the foetus was 27 to 28 weeks.

However, the victim child gave birth to the baby on May 15, 2025 and the newborn died on May 18, 2025. Since the High Court had also appointed Inspector General of Police Asra Garg to monitor the investigation, the police completed the probe quickly and filed two different sets of charge sheets.

The first charge sheet against nine adult offenders was filed before a Chengalpattu special court for trying offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and the second charge sheet against the six juvenile offenders was filed before the JJB in Chengalpattu on July 6, 2025.

Ms. Murali told Justice Kumar that since the juvenile offenders were aged between 16 and 17, the JJB in Chengalapattu was in the process of determining whether they should be tried as adults or as children in conflict with law. She said no substantial hearing of the case against them had taken place yet.

Further, stating that the child victim was now pursuing her school education in Chennai, the counsel said, transferring the case to a JJB in Chennai would help in ensuring minimal disruption to her education, safeguard her overall well-being and facilitate her ability to testify without undue hardship.

The court was told that the Chengalpattu JJB does not possess adequate child-friendly infrastructure as required under Sections 23 to 33 of the POCSO Act. “In the absence of such measures, compelling the minor victim to testify at the current venue would expose her to unnecessary stress, anxiety, and intimidation,” she added.

(ChildLine operates a toll-free helpline for children in distress – 1098.)