School murder: 18-yr-old will be moved to Karnal

The Place of Safety is a home for boys aged 18-21 years, who are accused of heinous crimes. The boy had turned 18 on April 3, the court order stated.

The district court on Thursday upheld the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on April 11 to transfer the teenager accused of killing an eight-year-old boy in a private school in Bhondsi in 2017 from the observation home in Faridabad to Place of Safety in Madhuban, Karnal.

The district court on Thursday upheld the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board on April 11 to transfer the teenager accused of killing an eight-year-old boy in a private school in Bhondsi in 2017 from the observation home in Faridabad to Place of Safety in Madhuban, Karnal.

The Place of Safety is a home for boys aged 18-21 years, who are accused of heinous crimes. The boy had turned 18 on April 3, the court order stated.

Additional sessions judge SK Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by the teenager’s father challenging the order passed by Manglesh Kumar Chaubey, principal magistrate of JJB, on the transfer application moved by the superintendent of the observation home. Sharma pronounced the order on Thursday and said the teenager will be shifted from the observation home as he has turned 18.

The father of the teenager had challenged the JJB’s order in the court, which stayed the case on April 16. The arguments were heard on Tuesday and the order pronounced on Thursday.

The teenager has been lodged at the Faridabad observation home since November 17, 2018, when he was apprehended by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for the father of the victim boy, said that the sessions court has rightly dismissed the appeal and decided to immediately shift the teenager to Karnal. “There has already been a delay in the court proceedings and the trial of the case is yet to begin. Such hurdles affect court cases and are harassment to the deceased’s family, as the father is running from pillar to post to get justice but it is getting delayed due to such petitions,” he said.

The teenager’s father had submitted an application to the JJB and the lower court, seeking a stay on the transfer as the place is nearly 170 kilometres from Gurugram and it would be difficult to travel outstation once a week to meet the teenager.

The CBI had filed an eight-page reply in a city court on May 4, recommending that the teenager be shifted.

The court ordered on Thursday that neither the juvenile nor his parents can ask for special treatment to the juvenile.