The father of a 13-year-old girl who was subjected to aggravated sexual assault by 15 persons, including six juveniles, has approached the Madras High Court seeking transfer of the trial from the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Chengalpattu to the JJB in Chennai as the former lacks facilities for victims.
On Wednesday, Justice M. Nirmal Kumar heard the preliminary submissions of the petitioner’s counsel Deepika Murali and adjourned further hearing of the plea till Monday as he needed time to go through all the documents submitted by the petitioner.
According to the indictment, the petitioner, suffering from multiple sclerosis according to a medical report to the extent of 90%, was employed in a private facility and used to night shifts. He lived in a rented house with his housewife wife and their only child who studied in class VIII.
One of the juvenile offenders involved in the case was the victim’s neighbor. He first subjected her to aggravated sexual assault when her parents were not home in August 2024. In October 2024, he and his adult friend subjected the child to aggravated sexual assault again and filmed the video.
Then, in November 2024, all the six juveniles along with the other accused subjected the girl to violent sexual assault and even the act was recorded on their mobile phones. While all of the juvenile offenders had dropped out of school, one of the adult offenders was a fashion design student.
It was not until May 2025 that the child’s father became aware of the incidents after his daughter was seven months pregnant. On 13 May 2025, Justice V. Lakshminarayanan of the Madras High Court ordered the termination of the pregnancy after noting that the gestational age of the fetus was 27 to 28 weeks.
However, the victim gave birth to the child on 15 May 2025 and the newborn died on 18 May 2025. As the Supreme Court also appointed Inspector General of Police Asra Garg to oversee the investigation, the police quickly completed the investigation and filed two different sets of charge sheets.
The first charge against the nine adult offenders was filed in the Chengalpattu Special Court for dealing with offenses under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) 2012 and the second charge against the six juvenile offenders was filed before the JJB in Chengalpattu on 6 July 2025.
Ms Murali told Justice Kumar that since the juvenile offenders were aged between 16 and 17, the Chengalapattu JJB was in the process of deciding whether they should be tried as adults or as children in conflict with the law. She said that there has been no substantive hearing of the case against them so far.
Further, with the child victim now pursuing her school education in Chennai, the lawyer said that handing over the case to JJB in Chennai would help ensure minimal disruption to her education, protect her overall well-being and facilitate her ability to testify without undue hardship.
The court was told that the Chengalpattu JJB does not have adequate child-friendly infrastructure as required by Sections 23 to 33 of the POCSO Act. “If such measures are not in place, forcing a minor victim to testify in the present location would subject her to unnecessary stress, anxiety and intimidation,” she added.
(ChildLine operates a free helpline for children in need – 1098.)
Published – 12 March 2026 05:30 IST
