'Nirbhaya' fears

The juvenile convicted in the bone-chilling December 16 ‘Nirbhaya’ gangrape and murder case will walk out a free man this month, after serving his three-year sentence at a correctiol home under the Juvenile Justice Act. In the eyes of law, he has been reformed and will be given an opportunity to make a new beginning in society — which requires his identity to be kept secret. So the convict (now 21 years old) and his mother will be let out someplace secretly, which will be a tough task for the authorities under intense media glare. The victim’s parents are however not at all convinced that justice is being done. They have argued that society has a right to know who can be a threat, for only then can it guard against that threat. Citing case records, the victim’s parents have pointed out that it was the juvenile who was the most psychopathic of the rapists, that it was the horrific injuries he caused which largely caused the victim’s death. What is the proof he has been reformed, what is the guarantee he will not perpetrate another such atrocity on an unsuspecting society, will the law-enforcers keep an eye on him continuously — are the questions they are asking. They fear they too will be targeted by this youngest of the offenders even as the other four are behind bars. The tiol Human Rights Commission has issued notices to the Central and Delhi governments seeking information about the convict’s imminent release. The Delhi Police is said to be considering whether they can make tough anti-terror charges stick to the convict and keep him in jail for one more year under the tiol Security Act. In many countries, juveniles committing heinous crimes are tried as adults. In India, the age for juveniles to be tried as adults for heinous crimes, has been reduced to 16 years in May this year. Be that as it may, the question of juvenile offenders continues to hang fire.