Maneka Gandhi: Close Watch on Juvenile Accused in Nirbhaya Case

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi advocates close watch on Nirbhaya juvenile accused after his release on December 15.

Union Minister of Women and Child Development. (Photo: PIB)

Ahead of the release of the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya gangrape case on 15 December, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi advocated that a ‘close watch’ be kept on the accused after he is freed.

She has also decided to raise the issue with the authorities for doing so.

<p>Let us not confuse justice with law. The law said that he could only go to children home... That’s the anomaly we are trying to correct. So he served his sentence and in accordance with the law he is coming out. And there is nothing we can do about it until or unless he commits another crime. </p>

<p><b>Maneka Gandhi, </b><b>Minister,&nbsp;</b><b>Union Women and Child Development</b></p>

The Quint spoke to his counsellor, who, for legal reasons, cannot be identified.

<p>He says that he hasn’t observed any ‘positive change’ in him. There was no regret on his face when I first met him after he was arrested. Nor is there any today. I didn’t have to grill him to make him confess his crime. He told me in detail about his role in the crime. He told me that he convinced Nirbhaya and her friend to board the bus and later about how the crime was committed by all five of them. He also told me that before Nirbhaya boarded the bus, he had tried to convince another girl who was alone, but that failed when she hailed an auto. </p>

<p><b>Counsellor, Juvenile Accused, Nirbhaya Rape Case</b></p>

He was 17-and-a-half, the youngest of six men who raped and brutally tortured the 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in the capital.

While one accused died in jail, four are on death row.

The minor who was convicted in the gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya. (Photo: Reuters)

The sixth accused, the juvenile has turned 21 and will complete his three-year term at the prohibition centre.

<p>He is a person who should be kept under watch. We can’t just let him go and wait for him to do something else.</p>

<p><b>Maneka Gandhi, </b><b>Minister,&nbsp;</b><b>Union Women and Child Development</b></p>

The victim died 13 days later in a hospital in Singapore where she was taken for treatment by the government.

(With PTI inputs.)