Swati Maliwal hopeful of SC not allowing juvenile to walk free

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Monday said that she is hopeful that the Supreme Court would be giving the decision through which this rapist will not be able to walk free until at least his medical condition and proper steps for his reaffirmation are taken.

"Today on behalf of entire Nirbhayas in the country I am going to the Supreme Court with lots of hope. I very strongly feel that the Supreme Court will give the decision through which this rapist will not be able to walk free until at least his medical condition and proper steps for his reaffirmation are taken," Maliwal told ANI.

"I met Vice President Hamid Ansari and he has assured me that within next three to four days, the Juvenile Amendment Bill will be tabled in the parliament in the Rajya Sabha. But my only question is would this kind of insensitivity, with the fact that the bill has not been passed by the Parliament, have been there if Nirbhaya would be the daughter of one of the Parliamentarians?" she added.

A vacation bench of the apex court will hear a petition filed by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) against the release of the juvenile offender in the December 16 gang-rape case.

The vacation bench, comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit, will take up the plea. The matter was referred to the vacation bench by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur. The convict, who is now 20 years old, was reportedly shifted from a correctional centre to an NGO yesterday.

Meanwhile, parents of the victim protested in the national capital yesterday against the juvenile convict's release. Hundreds of sympathisers joined them at Rajpath near India Gate to show solidarity. The victim's mother said she wanted justice for her daughter and said steps should have been taken long before to not set him free.

Six persons, including the juvenile, had assaulted and raped Nirbhaya in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012.

The victim succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital. Four of the accused were awarded death penalty by the trial court which was later confirmed by the Delhi High Court. Their appeals are pending before the Supreme Court. Another accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in 2013.