Father of juvenile accused in Gurugram school boy murder case files bail plea in SC

Investigators said the class 11 student killed the child in the school toilet to delay examinations and a parent-teacher committee meeting

After the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) rejected the bail of 16-year-old juvenile who is accused of murdering an eight-year-old student of a private school in Gurugram, his father has moved a bail application before the Supreme Court.

A class 2 student was found with his throat slit in a toilet of a private school in Gurugram in September last year. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A class 2 student was found with his throat slit in a toilet of a private school in Gurugram in September last year. In November, the CBI arrested a class 11 student of the same school as a suspect in the murder. Investigators said the older student committed the murder to delay examinations and a parent-teacher committee meeting.

Father of the juvenile in conflict with the law has filed a petition before the top court seeking bail on ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) delayed filing the charge sheet. Challenging the High Court’s order, father of the juvenile in conflict with the law moved a 56-page special leave petition before the Supreme Court last week seeking default bail on the same ground on which he had filed a bail appeal before the HC.

The petition states that the CBI failed to file the charge sheet within 60 days of taking custody. The class 11 student was apprehended on November 8, and the CBI filed a partial charge sheet—in which it filed evidence against the juvenile—on February 4.

“The CBI exceeded their time period for filing the charge sheet. It was not submitted within the time period of 60 days. They submitted the charge sheet after 90 days,” the father of the accused said.

The plea further mentioned that even if the juvenile was held guilty he cannot be given life term as per Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice Act, which clearly provides that no child in conflict with the law shall be sentenced to death, without the possibility of release.

“In view of various orders passed by the Supreme Court, if the accused can be punished with death, life imprisonment or with imprisonment not less than 10 years, only then can the investigation agency have an extended period of 90 days to file a charge sheet,” the petition stated.

Deceased boy’s father seeks cancellation of school’s recognition

In another development on Tuesday, the father of the deceased moved a petition before the High Court for cancellation of affiliation, recognition, and registration of the school. Petition states that the school did not follow the basic safety guidelines which could have prevented the incident and despite this, no action was taken against the school.

The petition was filed by the father of the deceased on Tuesday against the State of Haryana, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the private school where his ward studied.

Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for the petitioner, said after the murder, they had filed a petition before the Supreme Court over safety at the school and violation of the guidelines following which a notice was issued to the CBSE. The CBSE filed an affidavit in October in which they indicted the school. “The Board, in its report, had mentioned that school failed to observed basic security measures as stipulated by the CBSE, which could have prevented the tragedy,” Tekriwal said, adding that board had even issued notice but no action was taken till date.

“The report had also mentioned that school failed to discharge its responsibility to file FIR and inform the district authorities and CBSE. FIR was filed by parents of victim,” Tekriwal said, adding that in the petition they have also highlighted that even the building of the school at Bhondsi is unauthorised.