India rape case ruling sparks anger

Fury has flared up across India as a top court rejects a public appeal against the release of a juvenile culprit in the 2012 fatal gang-rape case.

At a hearing presided over by Justice A. K. Goel and U. U. Lalit, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea by a women's rights body, citing the absence of legislation for the continued detention of the convict.

Senior judges said in their ruling that “there is nothing in the law” that would allow them to order the juvenile culprit back behind bars.

"Everything had happened in accordance with the law," the judges said, adding, “We need legislative sanctions" to take any action.

This comes as the court has been hearing a petition from a Delhi women rights group demanding a longer sentence for the man. 

Reacting to the latest ruling, a prominent activist told reporters outside the court that the government has failed to protect the women against violence.

“We asked for an interim order restraining his release but the court did not entertain this,” the women’s commission chairwoman Swati Maliwal said, adding, “The entire system has failed the women of this country.”

Protesters including the victim's parents have held fresh marches to express their anger against the court’s order to release the rapist.

The attacker had earlier received the maximum punishment of three years from the Juvenile Justice Board. He has now been freed from a correction home and sent to a facility run by a children's rights group.

The attacker was the youngest of a group of men who brutally assaulted Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old medical female student and her male companion on a moving bus in the capital New Delhi in December  2012. Four other convicts were handed the death penalty but their appeals against the hanging are still pending.

The brutal incident sparked nationwide protest rallies and forced the Indian authorities to introduce tougher laws for crimes against women.

India has repeatedly hit the headlines for a series of brutal sexual assaults, including attacks committed against children and foreigners.

In recent years, several incidents of rape have triggered nationwide outrage, with protesters demanding the death penalty for the rapists. Activists have blamed officials and law enforcement agencies for rampant sex-related violence.

The National Crime Records Bureau says one woman is raped every 20 minutes in the world’s second most populous country.

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