Disgruntled family of the December 16 gang-rape victim on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction over the three-year stay in a reform home for the juvenile accused as the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), near the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in central Delhi, delivered its verdict. The accused, who was a minor at the time of the gang-rape but turned 18 in June, was not named. The Board’s decision in the minor’s case is the first judgement in the horrific incident when the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped in a bus that she and her male companion had boarded in Munirka in south Delhi.
The father of the paramedic demanded the death penalty, saying his family would file an appeal in High Court against the pronouncement. “We want him hanged. A despicable game has been played on us. We will appeal,” he said, outside JJB shortly after the verdict. “I am not happy with the verdict. It would send out the wrong message that a juvenile can always get away scot-free,” said the victim’s mother, teary-eyed.
She demanded the harshest punishment for the juvenile. The victim’s father said he would move the higher courts against the order, as “our hopes of him getting stringent punishment have been dashed by the JJB verdict”. Visibly upset, he said it was a crime in India to be born a girl.
After the Board delivered its order, the family was visibly shaken. “After this, I can say female foeticide seems logical since the girl’s family doesn’t have to experience the pain we are going through now,” the father rued. The JJB has let him go with just three years in a correctional facility. Assuredly, he would return to a life of crime, he added.
The girl’s younger brother also expressed his disappointment over the quantum of punishment awarded, saying, “I have seen his face. He has no remorse, no shame and no fear.” It is wrong to give him a light punishment even when he has been convicted for rape, robbery and homicide, he said.
“Children above 16 years of age know right from wrong. He was violent even in the juvenile home, where he was kept, as there were reports of him having attacked inmates with a blade. I have seen my sister dying, every minute, every second. I will approach the higher courts,” he averred.
The victim’s mother also said, “This (judgement) will set a wrong precedent. It means even if a juvenile is involved in a macabre act, he will be let off in just three years. We will seek justice.”