Ryan murder: Parents protest after students asked to stay back to help CBI probe

Parents were a worried lot when children failed not reached home even after school got over. When they went to the school to enquire about their children’s whereabouts, they were allegedly stopped at the school gate.

The parents of students in class 11 and 12 of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, held a protest saying that they were not informed that their wards would be required to stay on after school time to interact with officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Gurgaon, India - Sept. 13, 2017: Ryan International School at Sector- 31, in Gurgaon, India, on Wednesday, September 13, 2017. (HTPhoto)

The CBI team is probing the murder of an eight-year-old boy in the school on September 8. The students were reportedly asked by the CBI officials to stay on after school hours and watch the CCTV footage to identify three senior students who are seen near the bathroom on the morning of the incident.

On September 8, the boy was found with his throat slit in the washroom of the school. A school bus driver, Ashok Kumar has been arrested in connection with the case.

SK Sharma, an RTI activist, whose son studies at school and was among the students who watched the footage, said that it was at 2.45pm that an SMS arrived from the school saying that the children will have to stay back.

Parents were a worried lot when children failed not reached home even after school got over. When they went to the school to enquire about their children’s whereabouts, they were allegedly stopped at the school gate and were denied entry by the guards. The parents then threatened to scale the wall and only then they were let in.

“Around 50 parents met the principal and the CBI official who informed us that there was no interrogation, but the students were asked to watch the CCTV footage to identify three students,” Sharma said.

Other parents also said it was wrong on the part of the school authorities to stop students from retuning home without informing their guardians.

“The children are already in shock and they counselling. We are with the CBI to find out the perpetrator of the crime but there needs to be better cooperation,” said another parent, who preferred anonymity.

Sources said the CBI team was able to identify one of three students who are seen in the footage.

Vinay Pratap Singh,  Gurgaon DC, said the matter has been raised by some parents and he will discuss it with the school authorities and the investigating agency. “There has to better coordination and information-sharing among all the stakeholders as the matter is very sensitive,” he said.