Juvenile convict slumps into silence after verdict

The 18-year-old juvenile convict, the juniormost among the accused in the December 16 gang-rape and said to be “most brutal of all”, sunk into silence on Friday as he was told about the death penalty awarded to his four cohorts in the dastardly crime.

According to sources in the reformatory home, the juvenile looked shocked when he was told that death penalty has been awarded to the other accomplices. The juvenile was six months short of 18 years at the time of crime and, according to Indian law, a juvenile cannot be named and has to be a given chance to reform.

Sources in the reformatory home in North Delhi where he is serving his three-year term, said that the juvenile has been placed on special watch.

He was taken there September 1 after the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) held him guilty and sentenced him to three years of reform stay. He had faced as many as 17 charges under the Indian Penal Code, based on an inquiry report submitted by the police to the JJB. 

He does not talk much with other inmates, said the source.