IN JUST over a month, the juvenile convicted in the December 16 gang rape and murder of a paramedical student in Delhi will complete his three-year sentence. And back at his village in UP's Badaun district, plans are already underway in anticipation of a homecoming that will be fraught with emotion -- in more ways than one.


There's a mother who says her son deserved the punishment but longs to see him. And then there are the angry villagers, headed by a nervous pradhan, who are preparing to form a team to monitor his activities.


The juvenile's role in the gangrape that led to the death of the girl from severe internal injuries had brought the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 under intense scrutiny. It led the Union Cabinet to approve amendments to the Act so juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years can be tried as adults for "heinous crimes' such as murder and rape.


On Tuesday, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government seeking information about the juvenile's release. It was acting on a complaint from the parents of the 23-year-old girl, seeking "a plan to protect the citizens from such delinquent juveniles post their release''.


On Wednesday, the village pradhan said the line was clear. "If he has reformed, we will help him find a vocation. But if he shows signs of notoriety, we will excommunicate not only him but also his entire family,' he said.


Other villagers say they are concerned about the juvenile's return and add that he deserved harsher punishment.


"He was sent to three years in a juvenile correctional home, but he deserves more for committing the brutal gang rape with his associates. It was a very shameful incident and he brought down the name of our village. Now people across the country know our village as the home of one of the rapists of December 16,' said a resident.


Such intense feelings, however, have not stopped the villagers from joining hands to help the juvenile's family. "After seeing the condition of his family and their house, we had recently constructed a terrace and a side wall," said the pradhan.


The juvenile's house is not very different from when he left seven years ago to earn money in the city, say villagers. A tattered piece of tarpaulin serves as a window, a half-broken roof and crumbling walls are the only cover for his family of six '" a mentally ill father, a mother who suffers from depression and four siblings.


His 17-year-old sister, who earns Rs 200 a month as a daily-wage labourer, is the sole breadwinner.