Amid nationwide demand for harshest punishment to the juvenile who was considered the most brutal among the accused in the Delhi gang-rape incident, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said that the infamous title was only a creation of media and remains to be proved.
Kabir , the 39th chief justice of India, made the statement on Saturday in the convocation program held at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNLU), Punjab where he invited as the chief guest to award degrees to students.
"Branding the juvenile as the most violent is but a creation of media as of now. At this stage, we don't know who did what in the brutal gang-rape of the student, but everything will become clear soon. Till then, we all should wait," said the chief justice, The Times of India reported.
Kabir who expressed his regret over not being able to participate in the protest against the brutal gang rape in Delhi asserted that the incident had awakened the whole country. "But it's not the only heinous case of crime against women. Such crimes against women keep surfacing in our country and we have now put all such cases on fast track," he said.
Commenting on the nationwide demand for capital punishment to juveniles in cases of atrocity against women, Altamas Kabir said, "Someone below 18 years of age comes under minor category and the law takes its course as per the law of the land."
He said that the decision of putting rape cases on fast track was a huge success in providing speedy justice to the victim. He said that after the introduction of fast track courts they were now concentrating on cases in which victims or offenders had died.
Kabir also said, "In the coming some days, we would establish two special benches of SC to fast track all such cases. One court would decide civil cases while other would decide criminal cases."
Reproaching the lawyers who deceive the court, Kabir said that lawyers should respect the dignity of the court and should never misguide it.
The convocation also witnessed the presence of Chairman of Law Commission of India, Justice DK Jain, Supreme Court judge SS Nijjar, chief justice of Punjab & Haryana high court and chancellor, RGNUL, AK Sikri, justices Hemant Gupta, Rajive Bhalla and Jasbir Singh.
