A special children’s court has rejected the bail application of a juvenile booked for causing the death of a 24-year-old while attempting to snatch her chain. Sapna Shukla, who worked in an insurance company in Bandra-Kurla Complex, was waiting for her train on a platform at Kurla railway station in December 2016 when the juvenile allegedly attempted to snatch her gold chain. In the tussle, Shukla fell onto the tracks and was crushed under an oncoming train. The bystanders had managed to nab the accused. He has been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 393 (attempt to commit robbery) of the Indian Penal Code. The 17-year-old juvenile was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and a preliminary assessment ordered under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. In April, the Board ordered for the case to be transferred to the children’s court for the juvenile to be tried as an adult under the new provisions of the Act. After the case was transferred, the juvenile filed for bail and claimed that he had run away from the city and had got onto a train from his hometown and reached Mumbai. The prosecution had opposed the bail application. Shukla’s father had also intervened in the matter. On Tuesday, the court rejected the bail application. The children’s court will now decide whether the juvenile should be tried as an adult or the case should be transferred back to the Juvenile Justice Board for trial. Under the 2015 Act, cases involving juveniles between the age group of 16-18 who have committed “heinous offences” warranting punishment of seven years and above, can be transferred to a children’s court.
