New Delhi: The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) of Hyderabad has decided to treat four out of five minors accused in a gang-rape case as adults. However, the fifth accused, who is the son of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA, will be treated as a juvenile.A 17-year-old was allegedly gang-raped by the accused on May 28 in Hyderabad. According to the Times of India, the accused men kidnapped the rape victim at a pub in Jubilee Hills area of the city. From there, she was taken to Bakery in Banjara Hills and she was assaulted on the way.The newspaper reported that while the MLA’s son molested her and left the group, the rest took turns in raping her – as per the charges levelled against each of them.Currently, all of them are out on bail.TOI mentioned them as ‘belonging to influential families’. Deccan Chronicle said they belonged to rich families while one of them had studied law at a London university. The police has pressed charges of gang-rape, kidnapping, assault and invoked the POSCO Act too.“I’m of the opinion that the CCLs (children in conflict with law) have mental and physical capacity, and also understand the consequences of the offence. They (the accused) were not under the influence of alcohol or other substance. There were no compelling circumstances under which the CCLs allegedly committed the offence,” TOI quoted the order issued by the fifth additional chief-cum-principal magistrate of the board.Also read: Did the Nirbhaya Convicts Really Use ‘Delaying Tactics’ to Avoid Execution?However, Deccan Chronicle also reported a conflicting observation of another JJB member, Ayesha Fatima, who believed that the accused might have committed the crime due to the ‘welcoming approach’ of the victim. “The CCL [accused minors] may have been lured by the welcoming approach of the victim and that they do not have legal education and hence unable to understand the legal consequences,” the daily quoted her as saying.The additional chief-cum-prinicpal magistrate, nonetheless, defended the JJB’s order saying the inquiry was not meant to evaluate whether the victim allured the accused or not. “This was only an inquiry to assess the physical and mental ability of the CCL to assess whether they understand the consequences or not,” the magistrate has been quoted as saying.As for why the MLA’s son is not being treated as an adult like the rest of the minors are, the magistrate said no such inquiry was done for him because his crime, according to her, was not heinous. Deccan Chronicle reported that the Opposition has been alleging that deliberate attempts were being made to shield the MLA’s son and ‘the police from the beginning took a stand that the legislator’s son had got down from the car before the victim was gang-raped.’The magistrate has now transferred the case to the children’s court.