Nirbhaya rape case: A murderer is still enjoying a normal life
History and Controversy
It has been more than seven years
now. A 23-year-old medical student was cruelly gang-raped in a moving bus in
Delhi by six men. All of them were later convicted for the brutal assault.
While four of them were hanged at 5:30 am on 20th March, 2020 at
Delhi’s Tihar Jail, one of them (accused Ram Singh) committed suicide in jail
(even before his conviction) and another was a juvenile.
The teenager was tried by the
Juvenile Justice Board as per the extant rules of the time. He was sent to a rehabilitation home for a
mere three years in North Delhi’s Manju ka Tila. It is ironic that while the
reports suggested that he was one of the most brutal among the assailants and
indeed the one who hit her with the iron rod (the possible reason which later
lead to the victim’s painful death) the Juvenile Justice Board paid no heed to
any of the accusation and he was dealt with leniently only because he was few
months away from attaining an arbitrarily decided age.
This became one of the most
controversial matters in times to come and led to huge public outcry. Even
though The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 was
passed later in which juveniles in the age group of 16–18yrs, involved in
heinous offences, can be tried as adults, this particular person could never be
tried as an adult. He was released after serving three years in the reformation
home.
The juvenile’s case was one of the
most debated topics across the country when citizens demanded that the juvenile
rapist be tried in the case as an adult since it was a heinous crime. However,
he was never charged as an adult.
Now he may try something more serious to get more "rewards"
However, in 2015, while still in
confinement the intelligence reports suggested that he has been radicalized by
his roommate, or to be technically correct “cellmate”. His partner was involved
in the Delhi High Court Blast case. The inquiry was undertaken by the
Intelligence bureau at the behest of a complaint by Subramanian Swamy to the
Prime Minister. Swamy said that he has had intel from the police forces about
him turning into a Jihadi or Islamic Fundamentalist.
“From what we have learnt from the
media, he has shown no signs of improvement so far. He was getting
indoctrinated in jihad inside his juvenile home. The police had said he has
become street smart and learnt to abuse the system,” Nirbhaya’s father had said
while demanding the public disclosure of the convict’s identity in
consideration of the threats that he posed to the society.
However, neither was his identity
disclosed nor was his punishment modified. Despite the massive public outcry,
he was released on December 20, 2015, after completion of his three-year term.
He was provided with all possible aids
Let’s also take a look at how he was
treated by the authorities. He was sent to a secret location due to security
reasons, a day before his release. It seems that the heinous criminals are much
better secured than citizens on the roads of the national capital. The AAP
government also provided him with a one-time financial grant of Rs 10,000 and
arranged for a sewing machine to help him rent a tailoring shop. As usual, the
voices of civil society and even from certain sections of the government were
conveniently ignored. He was also introduced to an NGO which rehabilitated him
somewhere in South India, where he was reported to be working as a cook in 2017
by the Hindustan Times.
Considering that he lived in a
village a few hundred miles from Delhi, where his elder sister was looking
after a family of six and that he left his home at the age of 11 to work as a
cleaner under Ram Singh in his bus, it seems that him raping and assaulting a
prospective doctor has been rewarding for him and his "career".
Future isn't too bright for our society
While juveniles need utmost care and
protection, the misuse of law and the rigidity and limitation of the authority
can pose a serious threat to each and every citizen of India. Not only did the
person made a mockery of the Indian legal System and Nirbhaya’s parents but
also pointed to more serious issues that may welcome us in near future. It may
not be an exaggeration to think about a future where a few juveniles or people
using them for their mean purposes might start realizing and misusing the
indemnity that they enjoy and resort to serious crimes against their neighbors,
the society of the country at large.
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