DCW chief hopes juvenile offender is not released today

The juvenile offender of the horrific December 16 gangrape case is all set to walk free on Sunday as the Supreme Court refused the dramatic post-midnight move of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to stay his release by giving an urgent hearing. “The entire nation is looking towards Hon’ble Supreme Court with a lot of hope”, tweeted Maliwal.

Late on Saturday, Swati Maliwal, the head of Delhi Commission of Women, filed a petition to the Supreme Court trying to prevent the release.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday asserted that the juvenile convict should not be released as a free person till management committee decides whether he is mentally sound and whether he has been socially main streamed. Delhi authorities has stated it had submitted a rehabilitation plan for the juvenile convict.

“In principle, the central government opposed the release of the juvenile offender at this stage for which we have presented our position before the honourable Delhi High Court”, Rijiju told news agency PTI.

Last night, a vacation bench comprising Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit in an order pronounced at 2 AM had posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

Due to being a juvenile when the crime was dedicated, he was tried beneath the Juvenile Justice Act and was ordered to be stored in a remand house for 3 years. Ms. Maliwal earlier said that she was trying to move the apex court and that the registrar of the court has “called for the papers”.

The juvenile was moved out of Delhi yesterday and sent to an undisclosed location outside the city, amid protests by several student groups, activists and the victim’s parents, following which they were also briefly detained by the police. And while Nirbhaya’s attack has brought attention and some action to what critics see as India’s mild punishments for rape and sexual assault, protesters say the juvenile’s three-year stint in a juvenile home suggests India’s chaotic justice system stands to improve.

He also added that if the convict was a rich boy, he would have been released much before three years’ time. The victim’s mother said that all that she demanded was justice.

Sources said the juvenile’s identity shall not be disclosed as per legal provisions.

On 16 December, 2012, 23-year-old Jyoti Singh had been beaten up and brutally gangraped by six men in a moving bus in New Delhi.