Ryan student murder: CBI teams reach school, launch probe into 8-year-old’s death
The class 2 student was found dead with his throat slit in a toilet of the school. One of the school’s bus conductors was arrested, and police said he killed the boy after a failed attempt of sexual assault.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday began investigations into the murder of an 8-year-old student at the Ryan International School, an incident that highlighted the lack of security in educational institutions in India.
Officials said a team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) also visited the school in Bhondsi and collected evidence from the crime spot, a toilet in the premises.
The class 2 student was found dead with his throat slit in a toilet of the school on September 8. Gurgaon police arrested Ashok Kumar, one of the school’s bus conductors, in connection with the case. Police said Kumar killed the boy after a failed attempt of sexual assault on the minor.
The boy’s father, however, expressed doubts over the police findings and demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
The incident sparked outrage across the country with parents demanding strict security measures in schools across the country citing several similar incidents in the recent past.
A CBI team visited the school and questioned the teachers and other staff in connection with the crime, and the sequence of events before and after the body of the boy was found. The investigators also went round the school, especially the crime spot.
Another team meet the chief of the special investigaton team, Ashok Bakshi, who led the police investigations into the murder.
Gurgaon police chief Sandeep Khirwar has maintained that bus conductor Ashok Kumar was responsible for the murder, and all circumstantial evidence pointed towards him.
Bakhsi told HT that the case was handed over to CBI formally after a team visited Gurgaon on Friday evening and completed the formalities of take over.
“All the documents pertaining to the case have been handed over to CBI”, he said.
A CBI team is also scheduled to visit the Gurgaon court to complete legal formalities and to seek permission for questioning Ashok Kumar, and two other Ryan officials who are presently in Bhondsi jail.
“The CBI took over the investigation into the said case which was registered...at Bhondsi police station in Gurgaon under sections 302 (murder) of the IPC, 25 of the Arms Act, 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act read with section 34 of IPC,” CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said on Friday.
A recent survey by the ChildFund Alliance, carried out in 41 countries including India, said one in every three children in Indian schools feels unsafe, a report in India Today said.
The report, titled Small Voices, Big Dreams, showed that the safety concerns of children included corporal punishment and bullying.
The survey identified deficient infrastructure, lack of toilets and inadequate safety measures as among the reasons for children to feel unsafe. Toilets were identified as vulnerable areas for children.