The New Indian Express ·
Alappuzha Juvenile Justice Board allows police custody of three minor boys in Karuvatta murder case
ALAPPUZHA: Alappuzha Juvenile Justice Board has permitted the police to take three minor accused into custody in the Karuvatta murder case for evidence collection, rejecting the argument that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act does not permit such custody.
The order, passed on Monday, comes as a significant step in the investigation into the murder of Sivankutty Chettiyar at his rented house in Karuvatta near Haripad on August 16.
The case involves four minors, including the victim’s 13-year-old granddaughter. Three boys, aged between 16 and 17, are accused of carrying out the murder.
The prosecution argued that although Section 10 of the Juvenile Justice Act prohibits placing a child in a police lock-up or jail, the law does not bar the Board from permitting police custody for the purpose of collecting evidence.
It sought custody under the applicable criminal procedure provisions, stressing that the investigators needed to recover material evidence and establish the sequence of events.
The prosecution pointed out that there are no eyewitnesses in the case and that the alleged murder was committed inside a closed house at night, with only minors figuring as accused.
Without taking the accused to various locations and conducting evidence collection, the investigation could be seriously hampered, the prosecution submitted.
The latest order follows an earlier attempt by the police to question the three boys. The Juvenile Justice Board had previously permitted them to be questioned for six hours, after investigators found contradictions in their statements.
Police subsequently sought their custody again to conduct a detailed investigation and recover evidence.
The latest order is likely to be crucial to the investigation, particularly in resolving the conflicting accounts given by the accused and in establishing the precise role played by each of the three boys in the murder.