Nirbhaya case: Maneka wonders if justice has been served as juvenile accused set to walk free

“Wherever he goes, an eye should be kept on him for at least a couple of years,” said the minister on Monday, while speaking to reporters. She expressed helplessness in extending his punishment. Maintiaining that while law was adhered to, Gandhi said she was not sure if justice was delivered.

“Let us not confuse justice with the law. The law said that he (the juvenile) could only go into children’s home and that is the anomaly we are trying to correct. He went into a children’s home and he has served his sentence and according to the law, he is coming out and there is nothing that we can do about it until and unless he commits another crime. I don’t know if justice has been served, but definitely the law has been adhered to.”

On being asked if we were waiting for the juvenile to commit another crime when he is released, the Minister said: “Yes, I am afraid we are, because now technically he is free in December.” Asked if he is a threat to the society? She said: “I don’t know and I don’t know him at all. But he is a person who should be kept under watch and we can’t just let him go and wait for him to do something else again.”

Regarding news reports of the youth being radicalised by a fellow inmate, she said: “I do not know if he was radicalised or not, because he was kept in a children’s home and it is difficult for anyone to radicalise him there. That is just sensationalism. Wherever he goes, an eye should be kept on him for at least a couple of years.” On whether she has taken up the issue of monitoring him post his release with the authorities, Gandhi said: “I will do it.” She added that she was hopeful that the pending Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2014, would be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament.

Next month, it will be three years since the horrific gang-rape took place in December 2012. But the accused juvenile after being in the children’s home for these three years is all set to walk free. Apart from him, all other five accused in the case have been sentenced to death, but one of them was found dead inside the Tihar Jail on March 11, 2013.