AGARTALA / NEW DELHI, Dec 23 (TIWN): CPI-M led by its Secretary & Politburo member Sitaram Yechury opposed juvenile justice bill which was floored in Parliament to respect nation's demand to punish released juvenile convict in dreaded Delhi ganga rape case where paramedical student late Ms. Jyoti Singh was was gang-raped, killed by five men and a juvenile (17 yrs old). CPI-M has shown its true color by going against peoples will to punish juvenile convicts in heinous crimes across India. Parliament on Tuesday passed the juvenile justice bill, a day after members cutting across party lines agreed that the important legislation should be taken up immediately. However, members of Left parties led by Sitaram Yechury walked out of the Rajya Sabha before the bill was passed, demanding that it should be sent to a select committee of the house. Asha Devi and Badrinath, parents of the 23-year-old paramedical student who was gang-raped by five men and a juvenile on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012, were present in the visitors' gallery as the Rajya Sabha took up the bill for discussion.The bill provides for the trial of those between 16 and 18 years of age as adults for heinous offences. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015 was passed by the Lok Sabha in May.

Also, anyone between the age of 16 and 18 who commits a less serious offence may be tried as an adult if he is apprehended after he attains the age of 21.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury called it an emotional move.Sitaram uttered in support of juvenile criminals and said  "If tomorrow, a 15-year 11-month-old commits a crime, will you change the definition again? Today, ISIS is recruiting 14-15 year old. Are we going to reduce the age from 18 to 16 to 14?" he asked. Heartless CPI-M leaders chose not to show any sympathy towards the rape victim or her family members by not supporting this important bill.

Giving out the bill's details, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said borstals -- a custodial institution for young offenders -- would be set up under the proposed law to house juveniles accused of heinous crimes.

Maneka Gandhi said juvenile crime was being encouraged by the existing law.

"Juveniles' involvement in crime is increasing the fastest. Children walk into police stations and say we have murdered... send us to a juvenile home," she said.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said juvenile convicts should not be kept in jail with "hardened criminals" and there should be a separate place for them.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, meanwhile, said the government had listed the bill several times in the monsoon session as well as the winter session but it could not be taken up.

"This law will not be applicable in retrospective," he said, which means it will not be applicable on the rape convict who has already been freed.

Members from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and DMK also questioned the hurry in passing the bill, suggesting that it may be sent to a select committee.

However, none of the notices to send the bill to a house panel were presented to Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien.

"The culprit who has committed the horrendous crime, you cannot punish him. That sentiment of punishing him is there. These are matters that merit a certain consideration. Refer it to a select committee," he said.

Kurien, however, said there was no proposal to send the bill to a panel, after which members of the Left parties staged a walkout.

The bill was passed through voice vote after that.

The mother of the victim, who met Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday morning, said had the bill been passed earlier, the juvenile convict would not have walked free.

"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," Asha Devi told reporters.

The juvenile, who was under 18 years of age when he was held with five other men for the brutal rape and murder, was tried under the Juvenile Justice Act. He was put in a remand home for three years, the maximum permissible under the legal provisions.

He was released from the correctional home on Sunday after completing his sentence, amid protests by the parents of the victim and others in the national capital.

Time and time again its proved beyond doubt that CPI-M Party not keen on punishment of criminals and scamsters.

In Tripura even a multicrore MGNREGA scamster like BDO Bimal Chakraborty was released from jail as Chief MInister never allowed Poilce to file a chargesheet within stipulated 180 days.