Parents of suspect in Gurugram schoolboy’s murder face social rejection

The couple’s bail application has been rejected five times and they face ‘social rejection’, but they say they haven’t lost hope on regaining their child’s custody.

The past year has been tough for the parents of the 17-year-old suspect in the murder of the eight-year-old at a private school in Gurugram.

The suspect had allegedly slit the schoolboy’s throat. (Getty Images)

Their bail application has been rejected five times and they face ‘social rejection’. But they say they haven’t lost hope and still believe their son will soon be with them.

The boy’s father said his wife is in a state of despair ever since he was apprehended and his younger brother has had to face a lot of discrimination. He has stopped going out to play and often complains that other children do not treat him well in school, the father said.

“My son keeps asking me when he can get out of the observation home. I feel helpless as I am fighting the battle to save him, who has been framed by the CBI,” the father said, adding his son would have been in class 12 now and a year of his life has been wasted.

The boy’s father has received a copy of the CCTV footage based on which the juvenile in conflict with the law was apprehended. He argued that if the footage is to be considered as an evidence, his son should be acquitted. He said there is no such footage where the boy can allegedly be seen walking with the eight-year-old boy with his hand on his shoulder.

“The theory of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is baseless and my son has been framed. The judiciary must watch it before announcing any decision or before rejecting the bail,” he said.

The parents said the extensive media coverage in the case was the main reason behind the courts rejecting their son’s bail application.

The father also blamed the media for his son being tried as an adult.

He had filed several petitions in the Supreme Court, seeking bail on the grounds that the CBI had delayed filing the chargesheet.

“The CBI failed to file the chargesheet within 60 days of taking him into custody. My son was apprehended on November 7 late night and the CBI filed a partial chargesheet—in which it filed evidence against him—on February 4. There is no evidence against him but bail is yet to be granted,” the father said.

According to various orders passed by the Supreme Court, if an accused can be punished with death, life imprisonment or with imprisonment not less than 10 years, the investigation agency has an extended period of 90 days to file the chargesheet.

“They submitted the chargesheet after 90 days. The law should either be equal for all the juveniles or my son should be granted bail. Not only is he being ill-treated but so are we. It is yet to be proved that my son is guilty, but he is being treated like one,” the father said.

He said the public sympathises with the bus conductor as he was framed by Gurugram Police and was forced to confess, but he was acquitted by the court as there was no evidence against him.

“My son is lodged with juveniles who have committed crimes and are habitual criminals. He is not learning anything there, but is getting depressed. I feel so disturbed meeting him. I have no answers to his questions and I die a hundred times when I face him,” he said.