Gurugram school murder: Victim’s kin challenge High Court order

The Class 2 student was murdered on September 8, 2017, on the school campus, allegedly by a 17-year-old student, who wanted to get examinations and a parent-teacher meeting postponed.

The father of the eight-year-old, who was murdered inside a school toilet last year, approached the Supreme Court on Thursday, challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court’s order to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) of Gurugram for reconsideration and terming the process adopted to declare the juvenile in conflict with the law as an adult ‘illegal’.

Father of the juvenile has filed a bail petition with the children’s special court in Gurugram on Thursday, which will be heard on Monday. (HT File)

The Class 2 student was murdered on September 8, 2017, on the school campus, allegedly by a 17-year-old student, who wanted to get examinations and a parent teacher meeting postponed, as per the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheet filed at a district and sessions court in the city.

Meanwhile, the JJB’s principal magistrate, who had to form a medical board to assess the mental and psychological assessment of the juvenile, has been promoted and transferred to Ambala as the chief judicial magistrate. Consequently, the medical board could not be constituted as the incumbent principal magistrate is yet to join the JJB.

The JJB, on the basis of its assessment and report of the medical board, will decide, within six weeks, whether the juvenile would be tried as an adult.

In another development, the father of the juvenile has filed a bail petition with the children’s special court in Gurugram on Thursday, which will be heard on Monday.

As per the Juvenile Justice Act, those between the ages of 16-18 can be tried as an adult in case of heinous crimes, after following a due process involving the JJB, as per a 2015 law.

The juvenile’s father challenged the JJB order at the sessions court, which upheld the JJB order. He had filed a petition at the high court against the JJB order. The HC, on October 11, referred the case back to the JJB for reconsideration and termed the process adopted by the board for trying the juvenile as an adult ‘illegal’.

The Punjab and Haryana high court had passed the order in view of the juvenile’s submission that they were not given a copy of the social and psychological report, on the basis of which the juvenile was declared an adult, and that they were not given a chance to challenge the report.

Sushil Tekriwal, the counsel for the victim’s parents, said they have countered the grounds on which the high court passed the order in a special leave petition filed before the SC. “We have challenged the mandate of the high court before the Supreme Court, raising very serious and significant grounds as, according to us, the concurrent findings of the two courts could not have been disturbed,” said Tekriwal.

The high court had observed that cross-examination of the inquiry report has not been done by the board. The petition mentioned that as per section 15(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act, a preliminary assessment is not a trial but is only to assess the capacity of a juvenile to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged offence and cross-examination warrants a virtual trial, which is scuttled by the Act.

The petition contended that the documents were shown to all parties inside the court and to maintain the confidentiality of the report, it was not given to anyone.

The JJB will constitute a medical board once the principal magistrate takes the charge for medical and psychological assessment of the juvenile suspect.