Protests over release of Delhi gang rapist

Scores of protesters took to the streets of India’s capital to protest the release of a juvenile convicted in the fatal 2012 gang rape of a young woman aboard a moving bus.

The man, who was short of his 18th birthday at the time of the crime, finished his three-year term in a reform home yesterday. Several activists and politicians have demanded that he not be released until it can be proven that he has been reformed. The protesters were led by the parents of the woman who was attacked.

On Friday, the Delhi High Court rejected a petition to extend the man’s term, saying that he has served the maximum sentence under the law. India’s top court is set to hear another such petition today.

The brutality of the 2012 attack in the heart of New Delhi shocked this country of 1.2 billion, where sexual violence is rampant.

The woman and a male friend were returning home from seeing a movie at an upscale mall when they were tricked by the attackers into getting on the bus, which the men had taken out for a joyride. The attackers beat the victim’s friend and took turns raping her. They penetrated her with a rod, leaving severe internal injuries that led to her death two weeks later.

Four men were convicted of rape and murder in an unusually fast trial for India’s chaotic justice system.