Youngest Delhi gang rapist is freed after three years despite protests

The youngest convict in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case has been released after three years in jail. The 20-year-old was set free as hundreds of protesters took to the streets of India’s capital on Sunday to protest. His release came despite last-minute legal moves by the Delhi Commission for Women to extend his term. He was handed over to a charity, where he will remain because of fears over his safety; his identity is being changed and there will be no public record of his crime.

I am unable to understand the need of the hearing when he is released. Our fight is that he should not be released at all.

Victim’s mother Asha

The released man was 17 and the youngest of a group of attackers who raped 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist Jyoti Singh and assaulted her male friend on a bus in the capital Delhi in 2012. Miss Singh died of her injuries in a hospital in Singapore two weeks after the assault. Four adults involved in the attack were sentenced to death while a fifth hanged himself in prison. The case sent shock waves around the world and highlighted the Indian authorities’ lax approach to sex crimes.

The issue is being fanned disproportionately. If he had been the son of a rich person he would have walked free much before three years There would not have been any demonstration or court hearing in the night.

Released man’s lawyer, Ajay Prakash Singh

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