'Disappointed' Nirbhaya's parents question govt.'s concern for women

Expressing anger and pain over the early release of the juvenile convicted in the Nirbhaya rape-case, the parents of the victim questioning the government's policy said that a country that cannot keep their women safe, can never become 'mahaan' (great).

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Drawing attention to the hearing, which took place at 3 am, in the Supreme Court against the execution of Yakub Memon for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, the victim's mother questioned the government's seriousness in dealing with issues concerning women.

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"I want to ask that if the court can open at midnight to decide over a terrorist then can't they schedule a meeting and form a committee to deliver justice to the girls of the nation. A criminal has the right to demand freedom, but suffering parents and girls have no right. The country where women are not safe that country can never become 'mahaan' (great)," she said.

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The victim's mother said the government is trying to save him and thus releasing him before his present term.

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"We don't want him to get released at all. What I don't understand is that why our government does not have affection for these little girls, but has ample affection for the criminals," she told ANI.

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"For their vote-bank, sometimes our government says the age limit must be 15 years and then we get to hear that they are releasing the culprits before their term. If this is the case, then why this pretence of 'beti bachao, beti padhao'," she added.

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She urged the people of the country to come together in protest just as they did three years ago when the unfortunate incident took place.

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The victim's mother further said the government is in a way encouraging juvenile crimes with the move to release the accused.

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"If this is what they have to do then why do they even arrest juveniles? They must leave them after awarding them and saying 'you leave. It is okay. Girls are not important. They don't even have the right to live in this country'. If girls are not important then why keep the juvenile in the jails and away from their parents even for three years?" she asked.

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"By leaving him, the government is in a way giving the right to people that they can kill and rape anyone before the age of 18," she added.

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Commenting on the recent cases of juvenile rapes, she said that if there was no limit to the victim's age then there should be no age bar for convicts.

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"This idea of reducing the age from 18 to 16 makes no sense to us. If there is no age bar in raping... a two-and-a-half-year-old child is getting raped, five-year-old is getting raped then while punishing the culprits, there should be no question of age," she said.

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"It is our request to the government that they must relook into their decision in the Nirbhaya case's juvenile culprit. If they go ahead with their decision, they will send a very wrong message to the people of the nation and the children under 18 years of age will get the right to do anything they want and go scot-free," she added.

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Nirbharya's father also expressed his disappointment and said that the laws of the land were made to save criminals.

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"There is no law for the common man. If a rapist goes scot-free then this is all due to our government. If this juvenile is free and after that he does something then the sole responsibility will be of the Central Government," he said.

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The juvenile convicted in the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern on the night of December 16, 2012, will be released next month as his three-year term in the rehabilitation center is set to end. Although he is scheduled to be released on December 15, the Delhi Government is pondering setting him free a week in advance fearing public outrage as he fears that he may be "lynched" after his release.