The youngest participant in the violent 2012 Delhi gang rape which lead to the death of the victim was freed [BBC report] from jail Sunday after serving a three year sentence. The rape, on a moving bus, gathered international attention in 2012. A petition to extend the man’s sentence was rejected by a Delhi court on Friday, and India’s highest court will hear another similar plea by the Delhi Commission for Women [official website] on Monday. Protesters have gathered in the capital to demand that the convicted rapist to stay detained. Public outrage has prompted authorities to hand the man to a charity for his safety. He was charged for the rape he participated in with five other men [BBC report]. At the time of his conviction, the rapist was a juvenile and was charged with the maximum sentence allowed by the country for a minor. Although now an adult, due to his age at the time of the crime, his identity has been withheld.

Violence against women has been a persistent issue [JURIST report] throughout the world. In February the UN reported attacks [JURIST report] on young girls for seeking an education in at least 70 countries. In February 2013 the UN’s top women’s rights advocate denounced [JURIST report] violence against women in Egypt after 25 girls were sexually assaulted during a protest in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. In December 2012 police in New Delhi charged [JURIST report] six men with the murder of a woman who died from injuries sustained in a gang-rape. Also in December 2012 the UN released [JURIST report] a report detailing that women in Afghanistan were suffering from violence as well.