Nirbhaya gangrape case: Juvenile convict won’t be completely free, will be monitored by NGO

The juvenile, who was convicted in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case, was to be set free from his prohibition centre this December after his three-year-sentence came to an end. However,  according to Times Now, he will now be closely watched for a year and won’t be set completely free. Sources told the channel that he will be placed with an NGO after he finishes serving his sentence.

NDTV reported that the unnamed convict, who is now a 21-year-old, will receive vocational training at the NGO.

The juvenile was one of the six men who were convicted in the Nirbhaya gangrape case where a medical student was gang-raped and thrown out of a moving bus. The government flew her to a hospital in Singapore for medical treatment but she succumbed to her injuries. Outrage over his release had the government exploring their legal options on whether they can charge him under the National Security Act and keep him in jail for a longer time.

The new decision comes on the heels of Union Minister Maneka Gandhi’s letter to the Union Home Ministry demanding that those accused of sexual abuse and having served a sentence, should be tracked once released.

The parents of the 16 December gangrape and murder victim had recently demanded that the face of the juvenile, who was considered the “most brutal” of all the six offenders, should be shown to the world before he is released as “he is a threat to the society”.

“You know the issue is not of that particular individual, the point is that I have written to the Home Ministry saying that there should a tweaking of the law in which every person accused of sexual abuse, who has served time and has come out should have to report to the police station and he should be monitored,” said Gandhi.

According to a senior official, Gandhi has sought that a registry of sexual offenders be maintained and put in public domain.

Parents of the victim have made representations to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh stating that the juvenile set to be released is a threat to the life and liberty of the common man and that there should be a mechanism to keep a strict check on them so that people are not subjected to any risk of being harmed.

Based on the parents’ complaint, the NHRC has issued notices to the Centre and Delhi government.

The Commission has asked the chief secretary in the Delhi government to inform whether any pre-release and post release plan as per Rule 17(3) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007 has been prepared in the case of the juvenile.

Information has been also sought on whether the juvenile has been recently subjected to psychological or psychiatric assessment for assessing his mental health.

The Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs has also been asked to inform about the action, if any, taken on the representation submitted by the complainants.

With inputs from PTI