Try Gurugram school suspect as an adult, affirms high court

The Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed the accused’s petition on Wednesday and upheld the findings of the lower courts

The Punjab & Haryana high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by the 21-year-old accused in the 2017 Gurugram private school murder case challenging the verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) that he be tried as an adult for the crime he allegedly committed when he was 16 years old.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apprehended a 16-year-old class 11 student on November 7, 2017, on charges of murdering his schoolmate. (Image for representation)

On September 8, 2017, the body of a seven-year-old Class 2 student was found in the school washroom. After investigating the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apprehended a Class 11 student of the same school on November 7, 2017, on charges of killing his schoolmate.

Dismissing the accused’s plea on Wednesday, the high court upheld the concurrent findings of the lower two courts, the Juvenile Justice Board and the Children Sessions Court in Gurugram, that the accused should be tried as an adult under the Juvenile Justice Act.

The high court bench of justice Anoop Chitkara said the social investigation report (SIR) and the interaction with the board did not find any factor that would undermine the accused’s mental or physical capacity, and nor did they find any family circumstances to suggest that he was abused as a child.

Justice Chitkara also observed: “The final opinion of the board that minor accused had sufficient ability to understand the consequences of the offence is based on detailed assessment of all material facts and procedures...”

The court further said that the minor accused was born on April 3, 2001, and his age remains undisputed. “On the date of alleged incident — September 8, 2017 — the age of minor accused was around 16 years and five months. Thus, he was between the age bracket of 16 to 18 and despite being a minor, given the legislative mandate under Section 15 of the JJ Act, the offence being heinous... and child having completed 16 years of age, can be tried as an adult,” said the order.

The deceased’s counsel Sushil Tekriwal said the Supreme Court on October 20, 2022, granted interim bail to the accused.

“The SC’s bail verdict came three days after JJB ruled that he must be tried as an adult since he was ‘mature enough’ to understand the consequences of his actions and to think of ways to escape punishment. The accused had applied for bail at least 21 times since 2017 but the various courts denied him until last October. They (the accused) are just wasting the court’s time as the trial as already begun,” he added.

On October 31, district and sessions judge Surya Pratap Singh assigned the case to the court of additional sessions judge Tarun Singhal for trial, and hearings are currently underway.