An Indian court has sentenced a teenager to three years' incarceration in a reform home for the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year old medical student in a moving bus in New Delhi last December.
The teenager, who was 17 at the time of the attack and cannot be named for legal reasons, was given the maximum penalty by the juveniles’ court on Saturday.
Outrage
It was the first sentence after the long-delayed verdict over the brutal rape that sparked countrywide outrage. His three-year confinement will include the eight months he has already spent in custody.
The victim's family reacted with anger and dismay, calling for the teenager to be awarded capital punishment and reigniting debate about whether India is too lenient on its juvenile offenders.
"He should be hanged irrespective of whether he is a juvenile or not. He should be punished for what he did to my daughter," a visibly upset Asha Devi said at the courthouse after the verdict was handed down.
“He is virtually being set free. This is very wrong,” the victim’s father, Badrinath Singh, said.
“No family should have a daughter if this is the fate that lies ahead for women. In this country, it is a crime to be born a girl,” said Mr Singh, adding he would continue to fight for tougher punishment by appealing to a higher court.
His daughter, who also cannot be named, died of internal injuries two weeks after being raped and assaulted with an iron bar by six men on the night of December 16th, 2012.
She and her male companion were picked up from a bus stop by the six men who offered them a ride home.
A few hours later both were thrown naked and bleeding from the bus. The woman died at a hospital in Singapore a fortnight later.
Death sentence
The parallel trial in a fast-track court in Delhi of the four other adult suspects is expected to conclude shortly. If convicted all four face a possible death sentence.
The fifth adult, the suspected ring leader, allegedly took his own life in a Delhi jail earlier this year.
