India Delhi rape victim's parents want minor to stay in jail

The parents of the victim say the juvenile must remain in jail as he could be a threat to society

The parents of an Indian woman who was fatally gang raped on a Delhi bus want a teenager convicted of the crime to stay in jail.

The parents have appealed to the National Human Rights Commission to stop his release on 15 December.

He was convicted for rape and murder, committed when he was aged 17 in December 2012.

The Delhi rape caused global outrage and led to reforms in laws governing violence against women.

The teenager, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, was sentenced to three years in a reform facility in August 2013, the maximum term possible for a juvenile.

He has denied his involvement, as do four adult men who were sentenced to death for the same attack, by a special fast track trial court.

The commission has asked the federal and Delhi state governments to respond to its notice in two weeks.

'Threat to life and liberty'

The commission observed that "there was 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".

It also took note of the parents' appeal that the "teenager can be a threat to the life and liberty of the common man".

The four other accused have filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the lower court's death penalty.

A fifth adult accused was found dead in his cell in March 2013 and prison officials said they believed he hanged himself.

The victim, a physiotherapy student was with a male friend when she was attacked on a bus and thrown from the vehicle.

Police said the assailants beat both of them and then raped the woman. She died in a Singapore hospital on 29 December from massive internal injuries.