The youngest convict in an infamous fatal gang-rape in New Delhi has been released from a youth correctional facility, police said Sunday, sparking furious condemnation from the victim’s parents.
Only days after the third anniversary of the attack on a moving bus, Indian police confirmed that the rapist — who is now aged 20 — had completed his spell behind bars even though a court ruling on an appeal against his release is due to be heard on Monday.
He is now being supervised by a non-governmental agency, effectively meaning he is a free man.
The prospect of the attacker walking free has revived public anger over the attack, with fresh protests being held on Sunday near the iconic India Gate monument in the centre of the capital.
“The convict was handed over to an NGO. He is no longer under the jurisdiction of the police,” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
“He has been given a new identity and his criminal record has been expunged,” a police source added.
News of the release was immediately condemned by the parents of the victim, a medical student who died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital nearly two weeks after the attack on December 16, 2012.
“Our fight was all about this convict not being allowed to walk free. If he has come out, what is the point of the hearing at the Supreme Court?” her mother told reporters.
“We want justice for our daughter.”
“I have come out on the streets because I am very disappointed today. We don’t know if we will ever get justice now. Our justice system has left us disillusioned.”
– ‘Really upsetting’ –
Speaking at the India Gate protest on Sunday evening, the victim’s father said the release is “really upsetting”.
“The fact that he has been released shows there is no justice in this country,” he said.
Scores of students attended the protest holding placards and banners defying prohibitory orders put in place by police.
One placard read “When will Nirbhaya get justice” referring to the nickname given to the victim by the media.
India media said the rapist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been handed over to a charitable organisation on Sunday but police sources said the move had actually taken place some days ago.
The name of the NGO has not been released over fears that their offices could be attacked.
News of the release came only hours before a hearing on Monday at India’s Supreme Court where a women’s rights group will file a petition against the release.
The parents and women’s rights groups have been opposing the release of the youngest attacker, mainly on the grounds that it was unclear if he had been rehabilitated and was ready to be reintegrated into society.
The attacker was the youngest of a group of men who brutally assaulted the 23-year-old student on a bus, triggering global outrage and protests in India over the country’s high levels of violence against women.
He was sent to a correctional home for three years under India’s juvenile laws while four others were convicted and given the death penalty in 2014. Their appeals against hanging are pending in the Supreme Court.
The student, who succumbed to her injuries two weeks after the attack, was publicly named by her mother on the third anniversary of her death last week, in an effort to end the stigma facing sex attack victims in India.
Under Indian law, the victim of a sex attack cannot be named even after their death.