December 16 juvenile convict's release: Case referred to vacation bench

NEW DELHI: In a dramatic post-midnight move, the Delhi Commission for Women ( DCW) approached the Supreme Court in a last ditch attempt to stay the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 gangrape case who was set to walk free tomorrow.

The Special Leave Petition filed by DCW against the order of the Delhi High Court, which refused to restrain the release of the convict, was referred by the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur before a vacation bench of justices AK Goel and UU Lalit.

Lawyers associated with the case, including senior advocate Guru Krishna Kumar and Devdutt Kamath, have rushed to Justice Goel's residence.

"CJI had refferred matter to Vacation Bench. Registrar General taken our case to Judge. On our way dere. Appeal for case to be heard tonight," DCW chief Swati Maliwal tweeted.

The grounds which has been taken in the appeal against the High Court order says that no mental assessment of the state of mind of the juvenile offender has been taken into account for his release.

Advocate Kamath said that there are intelligence reports that even during his stay in the provision home the convict was unremorseful of his action and he has been further radicalised so at this stage it cannot be said that he is not a threat to the society.