The Delhi government has shifted the juvenile convict in the December 16 Nirbhaya gang-rape case to an undisclosed location, even as the police detained the victim’s parents for protesting against his possible release on Sunday.
“We have lost all hope,” the victim’s father Badrinath Singh told The Hindu on Saturday from the police station where they were detained. “Our lives have changed forever. He gets a new life and aid from the government to begin a new one. How is that fair,” he asked.
It is believed the government has begun the process to ensure the convict’s release even as the Delhi High Court heard a plea by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. A Delhi Police source confirmed the development, saying while they had been kept in the loop about the shift, the State government and other authorities did not share the location with them. “The transfer took place a couple of days ago,” the officer said.
In a related development, an official of the Delhi government’s Women and Child Department said the rehabilitation plan was a standard procedure. “We only provide monetary assistance but we don’t take responsibility for his/her conduct,” he said.
Delhi govt. responsible for mainstreaming him: MHA
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said the responsibility for “mainstreaming and rehabilitation” of the exonerated teen in the December 16 Nirbhaya gang-rape case, now 20 years old, rests with the Delhi government.
The MHA, which had opposed the release of the juvenile in the Delhi High Court, has asked the Delhi Police to identify a suitable NGO to keep a watch on him. Minister of State (Home Affairs) Kiren Rijiju told The Hindu that the Congress was to be blamed for stalling the passage of the Juvenile Justice Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha. “Principally, the Central government opposed the release of the juvenile… The Court directed the Juvenile Justice Board and the Delhi Government to chart out a plan for his rehabilitation once he is released. That means, the Government of Delhi has to make provisions for his mainstreaming and rehabilitation,” he said.
An official said that though the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014, was passed it would have no bearing on the juvenile involved in the case as it could not be implemented retrospectively.
