Whether the young man, accused of being the most brutal of the six rapists on the night of December 16, 2012 should be treated as a juvenile or not is a question that goes to the heart of how we operate as a society. The juvenile justice board has taken his school certificate as his age proof and decided that the accused rapist-murderer was six months short of 18 years when the crime was committed. The most that he can be put away for therefore is three years.

Activists have fought long and hard to change the juvenile justice laws and get the age changed from 16 to 18. They have their reasons — minors are not yet fully mature and therefore not yet responsible for their actions.