 "Delhi gang-rape case: SC rejects DCW plea against juvenile release today")
The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea of DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal against the release of the juvenile offender in the December 16 gang rape case, saying "there has to be a clear legislative sanction" in this regard.
"If anything has to be done, it has to be done according to the law. We have to enforce the law," a vacation bench comprising justices A K Goel and U U Lalit said while refusing to entertain the plea of Maliwal filed in her official capacity as Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief.
The bench did not agree with the submission that the juvenile offender can be subjected to the reformation process for a further period of two years under the juvenile law.
"Will we not taking away somebody's right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. There is nothing in the law to provide that," the bench said when the counsel for DCW cited provisions to drive home the point that the delinquent juvenile can be allowed to go through the further reformation process.
Meanwhile, parents of the victim protested in the national capital yesterday against the juvenile convict's release. Hundreds of sympathisers joined them at Rajpath near India Gate to show solidarity. The victim's mother said she wanted justice for her daughter and said steps should have been taken long before to not set him free.
Six persons, including the juvenile, had assaulted and raped Nirbhaya in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012.
The victim succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital. Four of the accused were awarded death penalty by the trial court which was later confirmed by the Delhi High Court. Their appeals are pending before the Supreme Court. Another accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in 2013.