Overview
- The court sentenced the then 16-year-old, now about 25, to life imprisonment with an explicit possibility of release under the Juvenile Justice Act, and imposed a Rs 10,000 fine with six months’ simple imprisonment if unpaid.
- Time spent in a zonal observation home and later in judicial custody will count toward the sentence, following detention in June 2018, transfer to jail at age 21 in January 2023, and bail granted in October 2023.
- Prosecutors presented CCTV images of the accused leaving the toilet with a knife and a bag, testimony from 20 witnesses, and evidence that he arrived prepared with chilli powder and a sharp knife.
- The court accepted the prosecution’s case that the attack was premeditated after a teacher’s rebuke two days earlier and noted the victim and the accused did not know each other.
- Judge Shakuntala Solanki’s order also directed the District Legal Services Authority to compensate the victim’s family and recorded an acquittal under Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act.