Ryan murder: Pradhyumn’s father tells juvenile board to treat suspect as adult

Parliament amended the juvenile justice act in December 2015 to allow children aged between 16 and 18 to be tried as adults for heinous offences such as murder and rape

New Delhi: The father of eight-year-old murdered Pradhyumn Thakur on Wednesday filed a petition in the juvenile justice board seeking the trial of the 16-year-old accused as an adult, saying the crime he committed was “chilling, horrific, monstrous and serious in nature”.

The Central Bureau of Investigation detained the Class 11 student of Gurgaon’s Ryan International School on November 7. (Sanjeev Verma/HT file photo)

The Central Bureau of Investigation apprehended the Class 11 student of Gurgaon’s Ryan International School, whose recorded date of birth is April 3, 2001, on November 7 and produced him in the juvenile justice board in Gurgaon the next day. The juvenile has been accused of murdering Class 2 student Pradhyumn on September 8.

Pradhyumn’s family said the accused should be tried as an adult as per the “mandate, warrant and spirit of the amendment carried in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015”.

“It is a heinous crime and hence he should be treated like an adult,” Barun Chandra Thakur said.

Thakur filed the four-page application a day before the hearing on bail plea of bus conductor Ashok Kumar, earlier arrested in the case, is scheduled to be heard at a session court in Gurgaon.

“The proceedings pertaining to the present application be concluded by the board within the limitation period provided under section 14(3) of the act i.e three months from the date of the first production of the child before the JJ board,” Thakur’s lawyer Sushil Tekriwal said.

Juvenile justice board, which are set up in all districts of the country, deals with children in conflict with the law.

There have been several cases in recent years when the board has ordered juveniles to be tried as adults. This has been made possible after Parliament amended the juvenile justice act in December 2015 to allow children aged between 16 and 18 to be tried as adults for heinous offences such as murder and rape.

To arrive at the decision, the JJB takes note of the age of the accused and the offence. It also conducts a preliminary assessment if the child is mentally and physically capable of committing the crime and knew the consequences of his action.

The juvenile retracted the confession he was said to have made before investigators, sources told Hindustan Times on Monday. The boy is said to have alleged that the investigators beat him up and recorded the confession in their own words – a charge that the school bus conductor levelled against the Gurgaon Police.

His father has also repeatedly said that his son has been framed and coerced by CBI officials to confess the crime.

“I can feel pain of Pradhyumn’s family members, but my son is innocent. There are no pieces of evidence against my son and the two CCTV’s footages do not prove my son killed that boy. The allegations that he was disturbed due to family members are baseless. I met him on Tuesday for a few minutes at observation home and he said he was beaten badly and he did not commit any murder”, said the juvenile accused’s father. He said initially CBI officials had told him that his son was prime witness but on November 8 they turned him into an accused.