New Delhi: The juvenile convict of December 16, 2012 gangrape case was released and sent to an NGO Sunday after DCW’s effort to block it through a stay order from the Supreme Court failed, prompting protests by the victim’s parents who assailed the Centre and Delhi government for failing to get them justice.
Government sources said he will be under the care of an NGO till the Delhi Government finalises a rehab plan for the convict who is now 20 years old and was known to be the most brutal of the six attackers.
His freedom came as parents of the gangrape victim continued their protest for the second day along with activists demanding death penalty for him. Police detained the parents and hundreds of protesters who had gathered at India Gate to oppose the release of the convict.
The victim’s mother claimed to have been ‘‘hurt’’ in the melee that preceded the detention of the protesters.
‘‘We have left him with an NGO,’’ police sources said.
The convict was released after the Supreme Court in a post-midnight order declined to stay the release of the juvenile offender in response to a Special Leave Petition filed by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).
‘‘How many more rapes, more murders will have to take place for the government to change laws related to juveniles. I want (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji to consider giving us two minutes (for a meeting),’’ said Asha Devi, mother of the victim.
Angry at the police for detaining the protesters at India Gate, she said, “The youth who should have been put behind bars has been freed. And we are being chased by police. We are heartbroken.’’
In an order pronounced at 2am, a vacation bench comprising Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit declined to give an urgent hearing to the DCW on its petition seeking a stay on his release and posted the matter for hearing Monday.
Government sources said when asked two days back whether he would like to go home in Badaun in UP or to an NGO, the convict had opted for the latter citing security concerns.
‘‘We are helpless. Our government, whether Centre or state, listens to you when you protest and get lathicharged, else they don’t care,’’ said the victim’s father Badri Singh Pandey. PTI
