The parents of the girl who was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012 on Thursday demanded that the juvenile convicted in the case be retried.
Their statement came a day after the Union Cabinet gave its nod to amend the Juvenile Justice Act that will pave the way for 16/18-year-olds to be treated as adults when involved in heinous crimes.
The amendment will empower Juvenile Justice (JJ) Boards to take a call on whether to treat 16/18-year-olds as adults in cases of heinous crimes.
Such convicted juveniles may face a jail term but will not be awarded life sentence or death penalty.
Currently, if an accused person is found to be a juvenile (under 18 years), he is tried by the JJ Board and, if convicted, is sent to a juvenile home for a period of three years.
The 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist was brutally gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi by six people December 16, 2012, leading to her eventual death.
One of the rapists was a juvenile. In September 2013, the Juvenile Justice Board passed a decision which, after holding the juvenile offender guilty of rape and murder, sent him to correctional home for three years – the maximum sentence under the juvenile act.
