Youngest convict in 2012 Delhi gang rape released

The youngest convict in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case has been released from a correctional centre, the BBC has revealed.

The release took place amidst legal challenges and protests from the victim's parents attempting to prevent his release release.

The rape, which ultimately resulted in the death of the woman made international deadlines and caused global outrage.

The rapist, who cannot be named, was a minor at the time of the crime, when he was sentenced to a maximum three years in a reform facility in August 2013. He was tried as a juvenile although he is now an adult, and he has served the full sentence allowed, according to the BBC.

He has now been handed over to a charity, where he will remain because of fears over his safety.

The BBC further reports that the man’s identity is being changed and that no record of his crime will remain in the public domain, a move that is causing outrage among many in India

Four adult convicts in the case are appealing against death sentences, while a fifth has already died in prison.

The Supreme Court has said it will hear the case on Monday, after a petition was filed by Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission of Women, but the release went ahead anyway.

Rape victims cannot be named under Indian law, but last week the victim's mother revealed that her daughter  Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, had died after the brutal rape by six men on a moving bus in 2012.