Delhi court rejects plea to stop release

India's Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal against the release of the youngest convict in a fatal gang-rape, sparking fury from the victim's parents who said the ruling was a betrayal of women.

Amid growing outrage at the freeing of the 20-year-old, judges said there were no legal grounds to allow a petition by the Delhi Commission for Women, which wanted to reverse his release from a youth correctional facility.

At a hearing presided over by Justice A K Goel and U U Lalit, the court said "there is nothing in the law" that would allow them to order him back behind bars and he therefore could not be detained any longer.