MADURAI: A 22-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl has escaped his death sentence after it was proved that he was nearly eight months short of 18 years of age when he committed the crime.The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC, on Friday, had to set aside the sentence, since a report filed by a trial court confirmed that the convict was a juvenile at the time of the crime.V Selvam, who worked for a flower vendor at Jaihindpuram, was staying at his employer’s residence. In 2006 he had raped and murdered the vendor’s daughter, dumped her body in a carton and hid it in the house. A few days later, the body was discovered. Selvam was arrested and the Mahila Court imposed a death penalty on him on August 1, 2008, along with 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for house trespass and rape, 10 years for unnatural offences and seven years for causing disappearance of evidence. Selvam filed an appeal at the High Court bench here, claiming that his date of birth is June 1, 1989 and therefore was a juvenile at the time of the offence. After subsequent inquries, the court observed that Selvam had proved that his date of birth was June 1, 1989 — he was 17 years, four months and 21 days old at the time of the crime. A bench comprising Justice M Jaichandren and S Nagamuthu set aside the sentence and remitted the matter before the Juvenile Justice Board, Madurai. It directed the board to dispose the matter in four months in accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
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