Pass juvenile justice bill: Nirbhaya's parents

The mother, center, of the victim of the fatal 2012 gang-rape that shook India.

New Delhi: The parents of the December 16 gang-rape victim on Tuesday met central minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to demand early passage of the juvenile justice bill in Parliament.

"We have been assured that the bill will be passed in the Rajya Sabha today (Tuesday)," Nirbhaya`s mother Asha Devi told the media after the meeting at Naqvi`s residence here.

"He (juvenile convict) would not have been released if this bill had been passed six months ago. Though it has been delayed, we want this bill to be passed in Parliament at the earliest," she added.

Naqvi said: "We have held discussions with all concerned. All parties are of the view that the bill should be passed."

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedical student, was gang-raped and brutalised in a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.

The juvenile convicted for the 2012 gang rape was released from a correctional home in the national capital on December 20.

The juvenile justice bill was listed for discussion and passing in the Rajya Sabha on Monday after demands from members, amid protests over the release of the December 16 gang-rape juvenile convict.

The parents of `Nirbhaya` on Monday led a massive demonstration in the national capital to demand amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 so as to treat a juvenile committing a heinous crime as an adult offender.