BENGALURU: Directed by the Karnataka High Court, the Commissionerate of Health & Family Welfare Service announced on Monday that it would constitute medical boards at the district levels for the “age determination of juveniles in conflict with law”. The Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court, in paragraphs 29 and 30 of Criminal Petition/Writ Petition No. 200464/2015, directed the state government to mandatorily constitute medical boards for this purpose.
The HC’s directions had come almost a decade ago – in 2016 – after Bidar resident Siddeshwar was charged with the rape of a six-year-old girl. When the case was being heard, he above 20 years but he claimed that at the time of the act, he was a juvenile.
According to details shared by the Commissionerate, each medical board will have a few specialists: physiologist, dental expert, radiologist and forensic expert. “However, as per the existing administrative structure of the Health department, the post of physiologist does not function as a designated member of the medical board at the district level.
Accordingly, the physiologist from the nearest government medical college shall be co-opted as a member of the medical board for the case, and render the necessary expert opinion,” a release said.