'Minor accused in bus rape case old enough for punishment'

The juvenile accused in gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in December is "old enough to undergo punishment", as he was old enough to commit the crime, Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan said today.
Speaking at the 'India Today Woman Summit' organised by the TV Today Group, Natarajan said the accused was "only a few days short of becoming a major" before he raped the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, who later succumbed to her grievous injuries.
"I believe if a minor is old enough to rape, he is old enough to undergo punishment... In this particular case, I think he was only a few days short of becoming a major and he should be punished," she said.

Natarajan also assured the gathering that justice will be done in the case as it is being heard in the court on daily basis.
"The trial is going on everyday. For the first time there is a day-to-day trial which never happened earlier... There will be punishment in the case," the Union Environment Minister said.
Participating in an open discussion on the 'changing role of women and the challenges faced by them' alongwith BJP's Vice President Smriti Irani, Natarajan also told the gathering that the Women's Reservation Bill will be passed in the Lok Sabha also.

"We will make it happen in the Lok Sabha. We made the Women's Reservation Bill happen in the Rajya Sabha, we'll make it happen in the Lok Sabha also," she said.

Replying to question on the opposition to the Bill by male MPs, she said, "90 per cent of people in Parliament will lose 180 seats. Nobody wants to vote for that. But we need to move ahead and pass the Bill."
She also termed the low conviction rate in rape cases as "pathetic.