Delhi gangrape victim's parents to protest against juvenile convict's release near India Gate

As juvenile convict in the Delhi gangrape and murder case is all set to be released on Sunday, victim's parents will undertake a protest march near India Gate in the afternoon.

The Delhi Police will not allow protest at India Gate and the victim's parents will be allowed to hold a demonstration only at Jantar Mantar.

The juvenile is one of the convicts who brutally assaulted and raped a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. The victim had died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012.

The juvenile is now 21-year-old and his three-year remand has sparked a debate with legal experts calling for major changes in the law to try juveniles who commit heinous crimes as adults.

In a midnight drama, Delhi Commission for Women appealed to the Supreme Court to stay his release but the court refused to give the plea an urgent hearing. A vacation bench comprising Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit in their order pronounced at 2 AM, posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

"When he is set to release today then what does hearing mean, I don't understand. Our fight is that he should not be released. This just means misleading people of the country," said victim's mother Asha Devi.

Victim's father Badrinath Singh said, "When he is coming out what does hearing mean. They are trying to fool people. It is court and what it does might be correct but our government only listens when you protest, do a dharna and get lathicharged. Before any of this they don't listen. If hearing would have taken place at the right time then we would not have to see this day."

The defence lawyer in the Nirbhaya case AP Singh has stated that the court's verdict of not staying the juvenile's release should be respected adding that the hostile environment against him has put his life at risk.

"The matter of this juvenile has been blown so much out of proportion that this juvenile may even be killed. Blowing up the issue may cause some anti-social element to come up and kill the juvenile. I have written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the same issue, about the juvenile's safety. I request the President too to ensure that the juvenile's safety is looked after, that the juvenile is released on time and rehabilitated," Singh said.