The juvenile justice court said Thursday that it would pronounce its verdict on July 25 on the role of the teenager accused of brutally Delhi bus gang raping a paramedic student on a running bus on December 16, 2012, that left the nation outraged and shocked.
The teenager, who was 17 years old at the time of the crime, is being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board and has pleaded not guilty, but if convicted, he faces a maximum of three years in juvenile detention.
"The judgment has been given, but it was not pronounced in the open court. It is in a sealed envelope. When we get access to it, only then can we let you know. The court has directed us, as well as the media, not to share the merits and details of the verdict, whether he is acquitted or convicted. The verdict has been given in one case, and in the other it would be pronounced on July 25," said Rajesh Tiwari, counsel for the Juvenile Justice Board in New Delhi.
According to the case filed by the police, the juvenile was the most brutal of the six accused during the rape and people have demanded severe punishment for him despite his juvenile age.
The December 16 attack, in which a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was allegedly beaten, raped and tortured with an iron rod by six people on a moving bus in New Delhi, sent thousands people onto the streets to protest over an increase in crimes against women.
The woman died from her injuries two weeks later at a hospital in Singapore where she had been flown for treatment.
Criminal proceedings against four men are in progress in a special fast-track court and their trial is expected to end later this month. One of the defendants was found dead in his prison cell in March, while the other four could face the death penalty if found guilty.
