Indian apex court dismisses plea opposing release of juvenile convict in Delhi gang rape

India's Supreme Court Monday dismissed a plea opposing the release of a juvenile convict in the Dec. 16, 2012 gang rape case.

The court said the rapist cannot be kept in a juvenile home beyond three years as provided under the law.

The juvenile rapist, who was among six persons who gang raped and killed a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in Delhi three years ago, was released last week, triggering protests by women activists and others in support of tougher punishment for rapists in the country.

"We share your concern," an apex court's vacation bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said, while dismissing the Delhi Commission for Women's plea.

While one of the five other convicts had committed suicide in jail, four others were sentenced to death in 2013 and had appealed to the supreme court, which is yet to make a decision on their case.

The Delhi gang rape shocked India and brought tens of thousands of protesters to the streets across the country to condemn violence against women in the country. Endit