New Delhi: One of the accused in the Delhi gangrape has been declared a minor by the Juvenile Justice Board, a lawyer said here Monday. Watch: One accused is a minor: Juvenile Justice Board
 
The accused now faces a maximum punishment of only three years in in a juvenile remand home - 4/6/1995 has been taken as his date of birth according to school records.

" The Juvenile Justice Board declared the sixth accused as juvenile on the basis of the date of birth on his school certificate which mentions June 4, 1995," said prosecutor Ishkaran Singh Bhandari after the hearing before the board.

The accused would turn 18 in June, he said.

Prosecution lawyers say they will move the higher court.

Delhi Police today said that they will submit the investigation report to Juvenile Justice Board by January 31, 2013.

Juvenile offenders are tried under the Juvenile Justice (care and protection) Act, 2000. The Act defines a juvenile as a person who is below 18 years of age. A juvenile offender cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment or capital punishment under the law.

Section 15 (g) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act mandates that a juvenile aged between 16-18 years if convicted of any offence can be sentenced to be sent to a special home for a period of three years at the maximum, and, thereafter, be released on probation.

However, section 16 of the Act also provides that a juvenile can only be kept at the special home till he attains 18 years of age and he cannot be sent to jail thereafter, which in effect will result in his release.

The JJB also rejected the police's plea for bone ossification test of the sixth accused for determining his age.

Apart from the juvenile, five other accused were involved in the Dec 16, 2012 brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist in a moving bus. The five accused are facing trial in a fast-track court in Saket in south Delhi.

Watch: One accused is a minor: Juvenile Justice Board