New Delhi: The juvenile convict in the December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of a paramedical student in Delhi will be freed on Sunday after the High Court refused to give any direction on granting a a stay on his release. But the order comes with riders.
He will be under the physical control of a management committee for the next two years. His movements will be monitored by the committee and after two years it will take a call on if he is be fit to be released in society without any observation.
While there have been massive protests and even the parents of the Delhi braveheart Jyoti Singh demanded that the juvenile, who is 21 years old now, should get a stricter punishment and not be let off, the High Court refused to go with Bharatiya Janata Party leader and senior lawyer Subramanian Swamy's petition not to release him. The court observed that it was not going to pass any order on a juvenile convict.
The court observed, "Be that as it may, having regard to the fact that the maximum stay that can be directed in the Special Home under Section 15(1) of the Act is three years and that the respondent No.1 would be completing the period of three years by 20.12.2015, there cannot be any direction to continue his stay in the Special Home beyond 20.12.2015. Hence, we decline to issue any direction as prayed by the petitioner."
Jyoti Singh's parents said they have been denied justice, but would abide by the court's decision.
While delivering the verdict, the High Court also asked the Juvenile Justice Board to talk to the minor convict's family. Even though the other four convicts have been given death sentence because they were adult when the crime was committed, the minor was sent to three years in a remand home after his conviction in the Juvenile Justice Act.
In his petition Swamy claimed that the mental condition of the juvenile should be monitored. "He has not reformed, he has become worse, a jihadi. The law says when time has come to let a juvenile out, his mental state had to be examined by a committee. If they find his mental state is not stable, he should be kept for 2 more years," Swamy had said.
Following the court order, the options left before the government are:
(a) effectively stopping his release by giving his custody to an NGO and monitor his movements
(b) make the suspect sign a bond and prevent his release.
The paramedical student, whose real name was Jyoti Singh but was known as Nirbhaya for her brave fight against the six criminals, was brutally gangraped and assaulted inside a moving bus on the night of December 16 three years ago. She battled for her life for 13 days but died on December 29, 2012 in a Singapore hospital where she had been airlifted from Delhi for better treatment.
The other four convicts are Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh. The fifth convict Ram Singh was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside Tihar jail.
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