Delhi gang-rape: Juvenile gets 3 yrs in special home

Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Saturday convicted the juvenile accused in the 16 December Delhi gang rape case on charges of rape and murder of a paramedical student. The victim died in a Singapore hospital because of the injury she received in the dastardly attack. The juvenile was six months short of 18 at the time of the crime and now, on the day of judgement in the case on Saturday, he is no longer a juvenile as per the Juvenile Justice Act.

The juvenile, who the police had said was the most brutal among the accused, has got the maximum punishment of three years under the Juvenile Justice Act by principal magistrate Geetanjali Goel in the first conviction of the gang rape case. The juvenile, however, was acquitted on the charge of attempt to murder of the girl’s male friend who was the sole eye witness to the barbaric act. The verdict was pronounced behind closed doors with the direction to the people present inside including the accused, defence counsel and the victim’s family members not to disclose the contents of the judgement.

The case of four adults (initially five but trial against an accused Ram Singh was abated after he was found dead in Tihar Jail) is going on in the fast track case and the verdict in the case is also nearing. After the rape, there were a large number of protests across the country and this had led the government to make rape laws stricter. The involvement of the juvenile and his brutal role in the gang rape of the paramedical girl had ignited debates on the Juvenile Justice Act, according to which  the maximum punishment a juvenile can get for any crime is not more than three years in a reformative home.

Earlier, the JJB had deferred its judgement on the role of the juvenile in the gang rape case repeatedly in view of a pending petition in the Supreme Court where senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has filed a petition seeking fresh interpretation of the term ‘juvenile’. Swamy, in his petition, has said the mental and intellectual maturity should be considered instead of the age limit of 18 years for such offenders while fixing their culpability.

After turning down the plea of the central government that Swamy’s plea is not maintainable, the apex court had cleared the way for announcement of the verdict in the case on 22 August.

The verdict by the JJB did not go down well with the family of the victim. The victim’s mother said it was not acceptable to her and her father demanded death for the juvenile. There were protests outside the JJB and demonstrators shouted slogans demanding death for the juvenile.

The juvenile will have to spend another two years and four months in the probation home, where he has already spent eight months. Rajesh Tiwari, the juvenile’s counsel, claimed outside the JJB that the sentence is subject to review in future depending upon his conduct.

The victim’s family said they would appeal against the order in higher courts, but that might not help in getting the minor any more punishment as under the Juvenile Justice Act, three years is the maximum punishment which has already been awarded by the JJB to the juvenile.