Delhi gangrape case: Juvenile to walk free after being released despite DCW petition

The juvenile in the Delhi gangrape case is all set to walk free. The release order form was completed the day when he was shifted out from the correctional home to an undisclosed location. The final signing is now mere a legal procedure. His criminal record has been expunged and sources say his identity will still not be revealed in accordance with the Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, which speaks of maintaining confidentiality. Earlier as well, the High Court of Delhi in ‘X Minor through father Natural Guardian Vs. State and Others in Crl. Rev. P.No. 356/2011’, which was decided on 17 April 2012, had emphasised the need to maintain complete confidentiality in respect of matters of juveniles. Meanwhile, Delhi gangrape victim’s parents, who are protesting against the juvenile’s release and will lead a march near India Gate this afternoon, told CNN-IBN, “I am still hopeful that something will happen from government and he will not be released. We have to fight against injustice. I am fighting to retain juvenile in jail.” But law experts say the release order cannot be withdrawn in the wake of the petition filed by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal filed in the Supreme Court against the release. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rebecca Mammen John told Firstpost, “It is not possible at all. Her (DCW chairperson) petition is completely against the letter and spirit of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. Now, she will have to convince the superior court that she is right. But to my mind, there is no justification of stopping the release of the young boy.” Post midnight on Sunday, the DCW had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the Delhi High Court, which refused to restrain the release of the convict. [caption id=“attachment_2553012” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The juvenile convict has been moved out of Delhi, according to reports. PTI[/caption] However, the vacation bench of the apex court comprising Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit, in their order pronounced at 2 am on Sunday, posted the matter for hearing on Monday. DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal and the lawyers of the women’s panel hoped that since the matter has become sub judice, the government and Delhi Police will not release the juvenile offender. Maliwal had also met Chief Justice TS Thakur over the issue. Maliwal had reached the Chief Justice of India’s residence at around midnight and had later arrived at the Registrar’s office in the apex court premises. Lawyers associated with the case, including senior advocate Guru Krishna Kumar and Devdutt Kamath, had rushed to Justice Goel’s residence at around 1.30 am after Maliwal was told by the Registrar that the matter has been assigned to the vacation bench. The grounds which has been taken in the appeal against the High Court order says that no mental assessment of the state of mind of the juvenile offender has been taken into account for his release. Advocate Kamath had said that there are intelligence reports that even during his stay in the provision home, the convict was unremorseful of his action and he has been further radicalised. So at this stage, it cannot be said that he is not a threat to the society. The SLP has also stated that though the High Court was of the view that there was a need for mental assessment of the convict, there was no direction that before his release the authorities should go for a health and mental assessment of the offender. Further, it is submitted in the petition that there is also likely to be a threat to his own life as reports are appearing that there is anger and tension between two groups in his own village. “Therefore it is also in his own interest and for the protection of his life that he should not be dumped and left unprotected,” it said. In the petition, Kamath said there are other legal points raised to challenge the High Court order. Guru Krishna Kumar is to appear for DCW in the case. The DCW chief had also tweeted on the issue, saying the rapist should not be released as the matter was sub judice. “How many more Nirbhayas will we create before we change the system. Nirbhayas rapist should not be released under any circumstances today (sic),” she said in one of her tweets.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also said that the juvenile convict cannot be released. “He (the juvenile convict) can’t be released as a free person till management committee appointed for purpose of deciding whether he’s mentally sound and whether he has been socially mainstreamed and reformed and gives clearance,” ANI quoted Swamy as saying. The Delhi High Court had on Saturday refused to restrain the convict’s release, citing that there is no legal provision for the action. A day before his scheduled release, the juvenile convict was moved out of Delhi on Sunday even as distraught parents of the victim were detained after they held a protest against allowing him to walk free. The convict, who is now 20 years old and was known to be the most brutal of the attackers, has been taken to an undisclosed location from a correction home in North Delhi amid concerns that there was a threat to his life. Sources said the juvenile has been kept under observation of an NGO under the protection of Delhi Police. The parents of the gangrape victim, along with 40 Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, were detained by the police as they staged a protest against the release of the juvenile convict. The police action was condemned by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “I am shocked to learn that Nirbhaya’s parents have been detained. They shud immediately be released. Police action against Nirbhaya’s parents is unacceptable. I have asked Chief Secretary to talk to Police Commissioner and get them released,” Kejriwal had tweeted.

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. Of the six men convicted, one died in jail and four have been sentenced to death. The youngest was many months short of 18, the age at which a person can be tried as an adult, and he was sent to a remand home for three years. (With inputs from PTI)