Delhi gang rape: Juvenile convict gets away with 3 years in a delinquents home

In the first conviction in the 16 December 2012 gang rape case, the juvenile accused who was found guilty of rape and murder of the 23-year-old girl in a Delhi bus got away with just three years imprisonment mandated under the juvenile law.

The first of the criminals who raped and killed the hapless girl in a Delhi bus on 16 December last year thus got away under the juvenile garb and what justice remains is yet to be seen.

The Juvenile Justice Board today sentenced the juvenile accused to three years in a juvenile remand home. Three years is the maximum punishment that can be awarded to a juvenile convict as per the existing provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.

The victim's friend and eyewitness to the rape and murder blamed the society for making a juvenile criminal and helping him to escape punishment.

''Even if society, as child rights activists say, is responsible for making a criminal of a juvenile, then the society should be held accountable,'' he told Firstpost in an interview.

Disappointed at the course of justice, the agitated kin of the victim are now planning to move higher courts for remedy.

''We are not at all happy with his verdict, which comes after a long wait. I appealed to the judge to give him death penalty…we will appeal against this sentence,'' the victim's mother told the media outside the juvenile court.

''What has happened is wrong. He has committed rape. We will try to explore all legal options to get him death penalty. This is not justice. My mother broke down when she heard the sentence. We wanted him to be given the death penalty,'' the victim's brother told the media.

"This is not justice. The law should be changed,'' an emotional father of the victim said. ''The sentence by the Juvenile Justice Board can be appealed in a trial court,'' he added.

Activists who rose in protest after the 16 December incident greeted the verdict with slogans,

''We want justice... Nabalik ko bhi phaansi do (Send the juvenile to the gallows),'' the group of activists shouted outside the court premises.

The so-called juvenile is one of the six men who brutally attacked the 23-year-old girl and her friend on a moving bus on the night of 16 December 2012.

The gangrape victim who was under treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the National Capital for internal injuries, was taken two weeks later to a Singapore hospital amid massive public protests over the government's inability to control rising crimes against women.