Maneka Gandhi’s candour is a breath of fresh air among conniving politicians. So when she spoke frankly about the Delhi gang-rape issue, she really put her finger on the crux of the issue. A month ahead of the release of the juvenile convict in the Delhi gang-rape case, Union minister Maneka Gandhi expressed helplessness in extending punishment to him and said that while the law was adhered to, she was not sure whether justice was done in one of the most gruesome cases that India has ever seen.
She advocated a ‘close watch’ on the juvenile, who would be freed next month after completing the sentence for December 16 gang-rape and murder case in 2012. She said that she will raise the issue with the authorities for doing so.
Reacting to the impending release of the accused, the minister said, “Let us not confuse justice with the law. The law said that he could only go to children’s home… That’s the anomaly we are trying to correct. So he served his sentence and in accordance with to the law he is coming out. And there is nothing we can do about it until or unless he commits another crime. So that is all we can do. I don’t know whether the justice has been served but certainly the law has been adhered to.”
On December 15 2015, the juvenile found guilty in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape will be released. He is now 21 and will complete his three-year term at the prohibition centre.
He was 17-and-a-half, the youngest of the six men, who raped and brutally tortured the 23-year-old medical student in a moving bus, in the national capital. The victim died 13 days later in a hospital in Singapore, where she was taken for treatment, by the government.
Four other men found guilty in the case are on death row. One died in jail.
Image Courtesy: BCCL
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