Delhi Police wants to stop release of Dec 16 juvenile convict

Delhi Police are contemplating if the National Security Act can be invoked to stop a juvenile convicted in the 2012 Delhi rape case from being released next month as he may have been radicalised by a fellow inmate, sources said on Wednesday.

Delhi Police are contemplating if the National Security Act can be invoked to stop a juvenile convicted in the 2012 Delhi rape case from being released next month as he may have been radicalised by a fellow inmate, sources said on Wednesday.

Set to walk-free next month, the boy convicted of raping and killing a 23-year-old woman in Delhi, doesn’t want to leave the “safety” of the reform home.(Sushil Kumar/HT Photo)

Officials said authorities want to stop the juvenile from leaving Delhi or go to Srinagar -- the native place of the convict who indoctrinated him -- as any such move may stoke more trouble and communal tensions. No Delhi Police officials, however, were willing to comment on the record.

Sources said Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi had a closed door meeting on Wednesday with the Intelligence Bureau chief and senior officers, exploring legal options. The juvenile is set to be released on December 15.

Read | Dec 16 braveheart’s parents think juvenile convict still a threat

The juvenile, who is 21 now, escaped the gallows because he was 17 years and nine months old at the time of his arrest in the infamous December 16, 2012 rape case that triggered a mass movement on women’s safety and led to sweeping changes in the country’s rape laws. Three of his co-accused are currently on death row.

Sources in Delhi government said they would ensure the safety of the juvenile and help him find a job once he was released from the north Delhi detention house.

Authorities originally planned a quiet release for the juvenile, sensing a visible threat to his life due to adverse public opinion and clamourous demands for him to be hanged.

The seemingly lenient sentence of three years given to juveniles also sparked a nationwide debate with a section of people seeking lowering of the age limit for heinous crimes like rape and murder.

Read | December 16 gangrape: ‘Reformed’ juvenile convict to get quiet release