Shimla, Aug. 10 -- The Himachal high court has ruled that a 16-year-old boy accused of raping a seven-year-old girl multiple times in 2021 could be tried as an adult, saying the accused's actions, including threatening the survivor and cleaning up evidence, showed that he "understood the consequences of his crime".

A bench of justice Rakesh Kainthla upheld the Juvenile Justice Board's (JJB) 2024 recommendation that the accused be tried as an adult following a preliminary assessment conducted by the medical board. The assessment, conducted in accordance with Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act, 2015, found that the accused had an IQ of 92 and was fully aware of the consequences of his acts.

"The conduct...