Juvenile, my bloody foot ! Even his mother Anisa and neighbours vouch that Raj Mohammad was 18 years old when he committed the unthinkable atrocity against Nirbhaya.
The juvenile accused in the December16 gang-rape and murder of paramedical student, is escorted after he was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board in New Delhi on August 31. (PTI File Photo)
In less than six months, the boy convicted of raping and killing a 23-year-old woman in the infamous Delhi bus gangrape case will walk free. Now a young man of 20, he doesn’t want to leave the “safety” of the reform home he has spent the last two-and-a-half-years in, afraid he will be “lynched” the moment he steps outside.
Welfare officers and counselors at the correctional facility for young offenders in Majnu Ka Tila say the ‘juvenile’ is a changed person, and the home’s most disciplined inmate. He has turned religious, growing a beard and offering namaz five times a day. He is observing the Ramzan fast too. Cooking is what he enjoys doing most. “He prepares Iftar (evening meal to break Ramzan fast) for other inmates. In fact, he has become a leader of those observing the fast, collecting their names every evening and asking them what they would like to eat. He is a very good cook,” said a welfare officer who did not wish to be named. Out of the 50 inmates, around 10-12 observe the fast every day, and he cooks for them. Initially kept isolated, he has been sharing a room for nearly a year now with another youngster who was apprehended for the 2011 Delhi high court blast that killed 17 people and left scores injured. An employee at the home said he earlier refused to talk to anyone and took months to get comfortable with the staff, but has forged a friendship with his roommate. He speaks to his mother once a month. “He has little interest in studying and the only thing he has learned here is to write his name. Cooking is his passion and he is always there to give a final touch to dishes prepared by the kitchen staff. Inmates often demand food prepared by him,” said the officer. During his stay, he has also picked up tailoring and painting. Just under 18 years old when he was apprehended in December 2012 for the gang rape that shocked Delhi and the entire world with its brutality, the boy was tried separately and sentenced to three years in the reform home — the maximum punishment for a juvenile offender. Of the other five accused, four are now on death row while one was found dead in Tihar jail in a suspected suicide. “After seeing his behavior here for these two-and-a-half years, no one can say he has committed rape. He is one of the most disciplined children. He never gets involved in any violence,” said the welfare officer.
Significantly, neither his mother nor any of the villagers had imagined in their wildest of dreams that the boy would be able to escape punishment until they learnt that the local school admission records had come to his rescue. What has surprised everybody was that the school admission register has been taken as proof of the culprit’s age, as everyone know that in the villages of UP you do not require any documentary proof for entering your child’s date of birth at the time of admission. Anyone and everyone who has been to the local school confirm that all they are asked to speak out is the estimated age of their children. The rest follows. As a matter of routine, it is on the basis of the age quoted by the parent that the school authorities fix an estimated date of birth for the official record.
“All I was asked at the school when I took him for admission was his age, and I said six or seven years; the school teacher must have mentioned some date of birth on that basis; how would I know what he wrote”, recalls the illiterate mother, who has no support fromher husband Bajruddin, who is mentally challenged. Evidently, the date of birth entered in the school records (June 4, 1995) was guess work by the school head-master.
“Raj Mohammad has brought a very bad name to this village where no one has even been accused of theft or robbery. I am sure he is more than 18 years, as he was definitely 11-12 years when he went from here sometime in 2005 or 2006”, asserted an elderly neighbour who did not wish to be named. Even Raj Mohammad’s mother Anisa was sure, “He left this place at least six years ago, never to show his face again; and according to my estimate he was around 11-12 years old at that time.”
This article proves that Mohammad ripped out her intestines with his bare hands: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/04/juvenile-suspect-in-india-gang-rape-reportedly-ripped-her-intestines-out-in/
In the recent Delhi Gangrape case, there were 6 rapists: Ram Singh, the bus driver, and his brother, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, an unemployed youth Akshay Thakur and Raj Mohammad supposedly a juvenile.
That night after the bus, that should NOT have plied in Delhi taking passengers – because it was private – and because it had tinted glass – had already been witness to a crime – a carpenter had been taken on and robbed off of Rs 8000; took the girl and her friend on.
On Sunday night, he allowed his brother, Mukesh, to take the wheel. The bus, which had tinted windows, not allowed in Delhi, was off-duty; the brothers and four other men decided to go on “a joyride,” according to Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar. They pulled over at a bus stop and picked up a carpenter. He paidRs. 10 for his ticket. On board, he was robbed of Rs. 8,000 and then dropped near the IIT campus in South Delhi. Half an hour later, the men on the bus noticed a young couple on the road. They pulled over. Assuming that this was one of the many privately-operated buses that are treated like public transport in Delhi, the couple bought Rs. 10 tickets and boarded.
Mohammad, the juvenile, called out to the couple – “Didi, where do you have to go?”
As the couple boarded the bus, things quickly turned from bad to worse:
Things were normal for about five minutes, he says, and he began to relax. “It’s OK for today, but don’t board these kinds of buses in the future,” he says he told his friend. Then, three of the men asked the couple what they were doing with each other out at night, he says. That is when he knew they were in trouble. He and his friend started shouting. She tried to call the police, but one of the men snatched her phone away, he says. He got into a struggle with one of the men. He says he heard shouts of “Bring the rod, bring the rod!” He was struck repeatedly on the back of the head, and pounded on his legs, he says. Dizzy and bleeding, he fell to the floor. Police have accused the assailants of using a metal rod from the bus’s luggage rack in the assault. She was dragged to the back of the bus, he says. The lights were off. He heard her crying for help, but he was pinned to the floor by one or more men, he says. Police allege she was gang-raped and sexually assaulted with a metal rod.
That she was gang raped and assaulted was bad enough, but what the “juvenile” Mohammad did to her ultimately led to her death – he pulled out her intestines with BARE HANDS… after raping her twice!
….the juvenile suspect assaulted the female student twice and pulled out her intestines with his bare hands.
“Juvenile” Mohammad will get only 6 months
Here is the rub. This guy, who not just raped her twice but also took out her internal organs as if she was some sacrificial goat, with bare hands – will walk free in just 6 months!! As per section 16 of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which provides that a juvenile can only be kept at the special home till he attains 18 years of age and he cannot be sent to jail thereafter.
On January 28, Mohammad was declared as a “minor” by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which would enable him to walk free by June 4, 2013, less than six months after the gruesome incident, when he attains the age of 18 years.
Is he a minor? Not per his Mother and neighbors!
The ONLY evidence that is being used is the school admission register, where his “Date of Birth” is given. Except for the police and administration, it seems EVERYONE in Mohammad’s village knows that the date of birth on the school admission registers are always fake. They are never accurate! In fact, the parents don’t even know the date. They just give an idea and the school authorities put something in.
Significantly, neither his mother nor any of the villagers had imagined in their wildest of dreams that the boy would be able to escape punishment until they learnt that the local school admission records had come to his rescue. What has surprised everybody was that the school admission register has been taken as proof of the culprit’s age, as everyone know that in the villages of UP you do not require any documentary proof for entering your child’s date of birth at the time of admission. Anyone and everyone who has been to the local school confirm that all they are asked to speak out is the estimated age of their children. The rest follows. As a matter of routine, it is on the basis of the age quoted by the parent that the school authorities fix an estimated date of birth for the official record.
So his mother also didn’t know anything and gave some idea and the school headmaster put in some date.
“All I was asked at the school when I took him for admission was his age, and I said six or seven years; the school teacher must have mentioned some date of birth on that basis; how would I know what he wrote”, recalls the illiterate mother, who has no support from her husband Bajruddin, who is mentally challenged. Evidently, the date of birth entered in the school records (June 4, 1995) was guess work by the school head-master.
And the worst part is that not just his neighbors but Mohammad’s mother, Anisa – also thinks he is over 18!!
“Raj Mohammad has brought a very bad name to this village where no one has even been accused of theft or robbery. I am sure he is more than 18 years, as he was definitely 11-12 years when he went from here sometime in 2005 or 2006”, asserted an elderly neighbour who did not wish to be named. Even Raj Mohammad’s mother Anisa was sure, “He left this place at least six years ago, never to show his face again; and according to my estimate he was around 11-12 years old at that time.”
If he left in 2005 – even in December – and he was indeed 12 years old, then at the time of his crime, Mohammad was clearly over 18 years old.
At least the villagers are sure he is.
Free Roaming “Mohammad, the Intestine Ripper” is dire threat
The bestiality of the crime. The absolute lack of remorse in this guy coupled with a dark streak of animalistic behavior can only be emboldened in this case if he is let loose AFTER nation wide protests and outrage!
He almost would be mocking at the society at large and be ready to commit even more crimes.
In US, Juveniles can be given Life Imprisonment without any possibility of parole for the First Degree murder. In fact there are several countries which allow Life Imprisonment for Juveniles. They are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Cuba, Dominica, Israel, Nigeria, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the United States.
Given the nature of the crime and the ruthlessness of Mohammad, as well as confusion over his date of birth, his case should be made into an exception and should at least be given a Life Imprisonment.
The streets of Delhi will be definitely be safer with this beast off of them for the rest of his life. He deserves no sympathy.