Ryan murder case: Order on juvenile’s bail plea reserved for Monday

Opposing the bail plea, the counsel for the Thakurs said that Section 10 (5) of the Juvenile Justice Act, which says the charge sheet should be filed within 30 days of the juvenile offender’s arrest, applies to the child welfare police and not the CBI

The Gurgaon special children’s court on Saturday reserved the order on a bail petition by the juvenile accused in the Ryan murder case. The decision on the bail plea will now be delivered on Monday, January 8, by additional district and session judge JS Kundu.

The juvenile was arrested by the CBI for allegedly murdering Pradhyumn Thakur, a student of class 2 at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, inside the school’s toilet on September 8. (Parveen Kumar/HT FILE)

Kundu heard the arguments on Saturday and said that the two applications filed on behalf of the juvenile accused shall be heard on January 22.

The juvenile accused was arrested by the CBI for allegedly murdering Pradhyumn Thakur, a student of class 2 at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, inside the school’s toilet on September 8.

Opposing the bail plea of the juvenile on technical grounds, the counsel for the Thakurs, Sushil Tekriwal, submitted that there no provision of an automatic bail in case of a heinous crime, as CBI investigating agency in the case and Section 10 (5) of the Juvenile Justice Act, which says that the charge sheet should be filed within 30 days of the arrest of a juvenile offender, applies to the child welfare police and not the CBI.

“There is no case for automatic bail as CBI arrested the accused on November 7 and it has a period of 90 days to file the charge sheet,” Tekriwal said. The victim’s lawyer also said that the special children’s court had now become ‘original court of criminal competence’ and the bail petition under the JJ Act was itself not maintainable. “A fresh bail petition needs to be filed in this instance,” he said.

Earlier on January 3, the Gurgaon special children’s court had extended the juvenile’s stay at the Faridabad observation home till January 17.

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The CBI counsel also opposed the bail plea submitting that it did not come under the purview of Section 10 (5) of the JJ Act, as it was applicable to the child welfare police and is legally entitled to file a charge sheet within 90 days of the arrest of the accused. The agency also maintained that as the investigation had reached a crucial stage and granting bail to the accused could hamper investigation.

However, the counsel for the accused, Sandeep Aneja said that the juvenile should be granted bail as per the section 10(5) of the JJ Act , as the CBI had not filed the charge sheet within 30 days as per law. “The CBI has also not supplied us with any documents or evidence pertaining to the case, which is required under the JJ Act. It was also our submission that CrpC is not applicable to the bail petition, as the accused is a juvenile,” Aneja said. He also said that the special children’s court has the jurisdiction to decide on the juvenile’s bail plea.

Aneja said that the two applications pertaining to taking finger prints of the juvenile and his police custody would be heard by Kundu on January 22.