New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, while sharing citizens’ concerns, declined to interfere with the Delhi High Court decision not to halt the release of the juvenile convicted in the December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case.
As the juvenile involved in the gangrape was around 17 at the time of the crime, he was sent to a juvenile home for three years. He is now 20, and after release on Sunday, has been kept in the care of an NGO.
A vacation bench of Justices A.K. Goel and Uday Lalit observed: “There is nothing in the law now to keep him beyond three years. We cannot interpret the law (Juvenile Justice Act) to curtail his freedom under Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and liberty) without legislative sanction.”
Justice Lalit told senior counsel Guru Krishna-kumar, appearing for the Delhi Commission for Women: “We share your concern, but we cannot go beyond statute. We need a clear legislative sanction to keep him in a home beyond three years.”
When additional solicitor-general Pinky Anand told the court the government supported DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal’s plea that the juvenile convict not be released till such time that he is reformed, the Supreme Court bench observed: “You are saying without the law backing you. Go first and make the law.”
Mr Krishnakumar brought to the judges’ notice that the Intelligence Bureau had given a report in a sealed cover to the Delhi High Court that the respondent convict was completely un-remorseful.
