NHRC Summons Home Secretary Over Release of Nirbhaya Juvenile Convict

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued summons to the Delhi chief secretary, police commissioner and the Union home Secretary following their failure to produce reports on the release of the juvenile convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.

The Commission had issued a notice to them on November 20, giving them two weeks to respond after taking cognisance of the apprehensions of the victim’s parents.

The NHRC has now asked the city and state authorities to submit the reports by December 21 or personally appear before it.

Nirbhaya’s parents had requested the Commission to recommend to the government to prepare a plan to protect citizens from such delinquent juveniles as the convict, post their release and also to strengthen existing laws on the subject.

The National Human Rights Commission had asked the Delhi chief secretary to apprise it of any pre-release or post-release plan prepared for the juvenile and also sought information on whether the juvenile had been recently subjected to psychological or psychiatric assessment.

It had also asked the Union home secretary whether any action was taken based on the representation submitted by the parents of the victim to the Home Minister. The Commission had observed that “there is no doubt that the complainants have undergone extreme agony and pain after the incident of rape and murder of their daughter. The fears expressed by them need to be looked into.”

On Monday, the Centre asked the Delhi High Court to extend the observation home stay of the juvenile convict, who is scheduled to be released on Sunday, arguing that several mandatory aspects were missing from the post-release rehabilitation plan which needed to be considered before setting him free.

The court was hearing its stand on BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s PIL seeking a stay on the juvenile’s release and reserved its verdict on it.

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