India's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to keep a young man in prison. He was one of six males who brutally raped a young woman in 2012.
The court said Monday "Under the present law, detention cannot be extended beyond three years."
Five of the men were sent to prison, but the youngest, who was 17 at the time, was sent to a correctional facility for three years; the maximum term allowed under Indian law.
The Delhi Commission for Women filed the petition to keep the young man, who is now 20, in custody.
DCW wrote in its petition the Indian government has not submitted any material "to establish that the mental state of the respondent has been reformed . . .the respondent continues to have criminal/perverse bent of mind which poses a serious threat to women."