When the convict committed the rape, he was 17 years and nine months, which was just 3months less, from getting the tag of minor, was what that saved the raped convict from awarding bigger punishment.
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Several activists and politicians have demanded that he not be released until it can be proven that he has been reformed. The protesters were led by the parents of the woman who was attacked.
With score of people gathering at Janpath to protest against the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16, 2012 gang-rape case, Nirbahaya’s parents asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to when justice would be delivered to them.
However, Delhi’s High Court has concluded he has served his sentence and should be released.
It will hear the case on Monday, but the release went ahead anyway.
The case turned a global spotlight on the treatment of women in India, where police say a rape is reported every 20 minutes, and the sentence sparked debate over whether the country is too soft on young offenders.
The Special Leave Petition filed by DCW against the order of the Delhi High Court, which refused to restrain the release of the convict, was referred by the Chief Justice of India T S Thakur before the vacation bench.
The brutality of the December 2012 attack in the heart of New Delhi shocked this country of 1.2 billion, where sexual violence is rampant.
The woman and a male friend were returning home from seeing a movie at an upscale mall when they were tricked by the attackers into getting on the bus, which the men had taken out for a joyride. “He was taken to an undisclosed location and was under the observation of an NGO”, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North District) Madhur Verma was quoted as saying. “They threw us on the side of the road where I then fainted”, she added.
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Hours before the juvenile was to be freed from an observation home on completion of his three year term at Majnu Ka Tila, Ms Maliwal had moved the Supreme Court on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in a last-ditch effort to try and stall the release. Four accused in the case have been given death sentence whereas one was found dead inside the jail.
