New Delhi gang rapist will be released
Court orders welfare agencies develop rehab plan for youth convicted in woman’s death
NEW DELHI— The juvenile convicted in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving bus three years ago will not be kept in a correction facility beyond the end of his term this week, the high court in New Delhi announced Friday.
The court, which was hearing a petition against his release scheduled for Sunday, directed government welfare agencies and the juvenile justice board to instead develop a “post-release rehabilitation and social mainstreaming” plan for the youth after discussion with his family.
The juvenile rapist, who was convicted in 2013 for his part in the fatal gang rape of the young paramedic student that sparked a national uproar, was just a few months short of turning 18 at the time of the crime. India’s Juvenile Justice Board sent him to a correction home for three years, the maximum detention period for juveniles here.
Since then, he has generated angry debate about whether India’s law has been too soft on him because of his age. Investigators said he had treated the young woman the most brutally of her attackers, wielding the metal rod that caused her fatal internal injuries.
“The assurance of justice that was given to us earlier we did not get today,” said Asha Singh, mother of the rape victim, speaking to reporters outside the court. “A criminal has been allowed to go free today. I am disappointed.”
Singh and her husband had earlier asked the National Human Rights Commission not to release him. And if he is released, they said, his name and face must be made public.
“The terror that we had faced a few years ago will be back on our streets,” Anil Soni, a government counsel in the case. The juvenile rapist has become a flashpoint for calls for reform of the legal system.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced a new bill in parliament that sought to try juveniles as adults if they are accused of committing brutal offences such as rape or murder. But the bill has not yet passed.
There has been a jump of more than 50 per cent in crimes committed by juveniles between 2005 and 2014, the government informed the parliament Tuesday.
On Wednesday, several lawmakers demanded in parliament that the juvenile be tried and punished as an adult.
The juvenile, now 20, has spent much of the last three years in a correction home in the capital.
Shuchi Goel, his primary counsel- lor through most of that time, said he passed his days playing guitar, painting, sewing and learning to cook. During her sessions with him, he did not want to speak about the events of Dec.16, 2012, she said, and had shown no remorse, either.
“The larger question is whether those who perpetrate heinous crimes with their full knowledge can be let off,” said Nalin Kohli, spokesman for India’s ruling political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Will they continue to pose a potential threat if the rehabilitation measures are not effective? That is a risk. A close watch must be kept on him. His family members and those close to him must immediately report to the authorities if they see any abnormal, suspicious or aberrant behaviour.” The Delhi Commission for Women said they will again appeal to the authorities that he not be released.
Swati Maliwal, the chairwoman of the commission, said that each and every woman is feeling afraid today that she may now actually run into this rapist without knowing who he is.
The juvenile rapist had dropped out of his village school in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and a relative brought him to the Indian capital where he worked as a child labourer at small streetside restaurants and tea shops and later as a bus cleaner. For some time, he sent money to his impoverished family. When the payments stopped, his mother had assumed he might have died in the city.
On the fateful night of the gang rape, he joined five other drunken men in the bus and called out to the young woman and her friend in a “singsong voice,” the police said. He addressed her as “sister” and asked her to board the bus. Inside the bus, the men beat the couple brutally, raped her and threw her out of the bus and left her to die on the cold December night. The young woman died later that month in a Singapore hospital.
“We are not bigger than the court. It is painful, but what can we do? We are helpless,” said the victim’s father, Badrinath Singh.
“Our fight is for the larger society. We hope he will be kept under watch by another organization for two more years.” Annie Gowen contributed to this article.