Delhi gang-rape case: Juvenile Justice Board to deliver verdict on July 25

The Juvenile Justice Board will deliver its verdict in the gang-rape case on July 25. The minor faces a maximum sentence of three years in a correctional facility, including the time he has already spent in one. More lenient punishment could include having to do community service. Whatever the verdict, the name of the accused and his role in the crime will remain permanently sealed. His crime will not reflect when he applies for jobs in the future.

The father of the 23-year-old medical student told NDTV today, "We cry every day remembering our daughter. A strict judgement is our only hope for justice. Our fight, the nation's cry will go waste if strict punishment is not granted."

The police, in their inquiry report to the Juvenile Justice Board, have alleged that the juvenile, who was 17-and-a-half years old when the medical student was raped, was an equal participant in the gruesome assault. They have in fact claimed that he was the "most brutal" of all the six accused.

The police have also alleged that it was this man who stood at the door of the private luxury bus and called out to commuters to board the bus on the evening of the crime. The police allege that the six men on the bus planned to rob commuters.

The family of the medical student had pleaded that the teen be tried as an adult alongside the others accused; they said that his age does not make his crime any less heinous. Despite a lot of debate and several appeals, the Justice Verma Commission, set up to suggest more stringent laws against rape, did not reduce the definition of "juvenile" for crime  from 18 to 16.

The Juvenile Justice Board headed by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel is also expected to give its judgement today in another case against the juvenile from the same day. He and the adult accused are charged with robbing Ramadhar, a carpenter, who had boarded the bus and was thrown out before the young student and her friend were assaulted.

During the inquiry, the juvenile had denied all accusations, claiming that he had not participated in the crime. The juvenile's counsel had submitted that there was no medical evidence to connect him with the crime and that no fingerprints could be detected in the bus to show his complicity.

The accused belongs to Uttar Pradesh. His father bed-ridden and family extremely poor, he had come to Delhi to earn a living. The police say he initially kept in touch with the family but then they lost contact with him.

The six men accused in the case were arrested within a week of the brutal gang-rape on December 16, which led to weeks of protests in the capital and elsewhere. The trial of four adult suspects is being conducted in a fast-track court in Delhi. A fifth accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail on March 11.

The 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted with an iron rod by six men, reportedly drunk, on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16. A male friend accompanying her was also beaten badly. After the assault, they were thrown on to the road. The girl died 13 days later in a Singapore hospital.